Honor Society® member
Heather Lam
- Biology
- Class of 2026
- Arcadia, California
Member since September 2025
About
Current high school senior with a passion for microbiology, pathology, and outbreak investigation practiced through community service in the clinical and educational setting, as well as peer support through team leadership and tutoring.
Education
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Arcadia High School
High School Diploma
2022 – 2026
Honors and awards
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Top 50 and Semifinalist x2, USA Biology Olympiad
Sole school qualifier in 2 years. Repeatedly top 10% of 11000+ Open Exam results. Top 0.5% of all Olympiad students with semifinal score of 88.4.
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Solo Advanced Semifinalist (Top 24), International Biology Bowl
Top 24 (top 25%) of international competitors in open Olympiad-level advanced division. Entered alone against teams of up to 4.
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Gold Medal with STEM Star, Congressional Award
Youth award for 2 years and 100s of hours of STEM education, medical readings, long-distance running, and independent Hispanic cultural insight.
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Senior Award, Piano, Music Teachers’ Association of California
Merit award for 10+ years of studio education and judge/recital performance. Passed advanced examinations for piano technique and music theory.
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1st Place x14, Invitational, Regional, and State Competitions, Science Olympiad
Competed in Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Microbe Mission, and Experimental Design. Medals: 1st, States; 1st x6, LA Regionals; 1st x7, Invitationals.
Goals and interests
- Career goal
Infectious Diseases Physician / Public Health Epidemiologist / Vaccine Research Scientist
- Graduate school interests
Medical School / PhD in Biology
- Outside the classroom
Sports Following: Formula 1, League of Legends, Volleyball; Sports Played: Badminton, Ping Pong, Swimming; Arts: Watercolor, Pastel, Sketching, Piano; Relaxation: Reading Fiction, Listening to K-Pop
Experience
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Research Intern
Qiong Wang Lab, City of Hope, Duarte, CA - Delivered abstract, paper outline, and oral presentation on impact of maternal high-fat diet on mice offspring adipose tissue morphology and weight.
Jun 2025 – Aug 2025
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Research Intern
Public Health and Virology Track, High School Summer STEM, Keck Graduate Institute - Researched and presented subunit vaccine production systems. Proposed novel target for recombinant hepatitis C vaccine with plausibility report.
Jun 2024 – Jul 2024
Volunteering
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Nursing Station / Pathology Volunteer - In Station 45 post-ICU unit, coordinates nursing shift transition by updating schedules and logging and cleaning equipment return; answers and fulfills non-clinical patient calls. In Pathology, verifies medical reports, connects patient histories to requests, and prepares patient samples for shipping. Reduces secretary overtime by 20%+ with paperwork efficiency.
Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, CA
Sep 2023 – Jun 2026
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Peer Tutor - Provides private tutoring with struggling students on-demand. Assists tutees in studying for assessments, completing homework, and understanding practice problems. Identifies key problems in methods of thinking in math, physics, English, and Spanish. Resolves issues in understanding using detailed, effective visual and verbal communication.
Peer Tutoring and Outreach + Academic Student Council, National Honor Society
Sep 2023 – May 2026
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Youth Volunteer - Practices disaster preparedness and international humanitarian law. Through the Volunteer Connection program, attends Red Cross San Gabriel-operated events concerning blood drives and emergency care such as hands-only CPR educator training. Assists with disaster supply inventory stock management at the high school via condition checks and recounts.
American Red Cross Youth Chapter
Sep 2023 – May 2026
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Biology Lead / Contributor-Administrator - Wrote over 13400 original biology problems for a free online question bank, giving detailed explanations for each solution. Reviews and edits the tags, ratings, and solutions for over 200 problems written by other contributors. Established new tag list framework to sort problems into topics and units. Assembled new formula sheet for biology use.
Mutorials (Virtual NPO)
Aug 2022 – Jun 2026
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Student Coach - Teaches anatomy and physiology, epidemiology and public health, microbiology and genetics, and experimental design in Saturday classes. Establishes 3+ annual lesson plans and creates 10+ practice sets each summer. Lectures and tests weekly. Students have won 15+ golds, 1st in LA.
Dana Middle School Science Olympiad
Jun 2022 – Apr 2026
Languages
- English (US) Advanced
- Chinese (Simplified) Intermediate
- Spanish Beginner
Additional information
Organizations
