Meet The Team
Monica Acosta
Social Media Manager
Monica is an MD-PhD student at the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program interested in pursuing a career researching and treating cancer. She grew up in both Sinaloa, Mexico and Southern California (ni de aquí, ni de allá), and began her undergraduate studies at Santa Rosa Junior College. As a Biochemistry/Chemistry graduate from UC San Diego, Monica spent two gap years studying ocular melanoma and Sturge-Weber Syndrome. Grateful for the support she’s received in her 8-year journey to medical school, she hopes to become that pilar for others and to continue motivating younger generations to pursue a career in the biomedical sciences
Sean Luong
Contributor
Sean is a first-generation Chinese-American whose family fled the Vietnam War by boat. His parents never went to college, but they always made sure he had their love and support. He was born and raised in San Francisco, and went on to UC San Diego to complete a B.S./M.S. in Structural Engineering with a Minor in Psychology. Afterwards, he worked as an engineer at SpaceX for the next five years. From grad school through this period, he spent his free time tutoring and mentoring FLI/houseless youths in the local community and realized his passion was serving others from marginalized communities. He decided he would rather do so as a physician, quit his job to live the #vanlife while completing the post-bac program at Scripps College, and is now a medical student at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the non-trad path, want any general advice, or have more questions about any part of his journey.
Stephanie Bueno
Contributor
Stephanie is a first-generation child of immigrants from Mexico and Brazil. She was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and raised in San Diego, CA before attending UCLA on a full-ride scholarship as a Gates Millenium Scholar. Motivated by her lack of access to healthcare in the U.S. growing up, as well her difficult transition from an inner-city high school to UCLA she has dedicated much of her time to mentoring first-gen low-income students as they navigate higher education and applying to medical school. She graduated from UCLA in 2019, pursued a remedial Post-Baccalaureate at UCSF, and has now recently been accepted to medical school. She is passionate about addressing health disparities and encouraging URM students to persevere in medicine to create a medical field that reflects the diversity of the U.S.
Nana Park
Founder/President
Nana is a Korean-American who immigrated with her parents to the United States when she was 3 years old. She is a 2014 Questbridge scholar and graduated from Princeton University with a degree in molecular biology. Between undergrad and medical school, she spent a gap year at the NIH researching hepatitis B. Currently, she is an MD candidate at Weill Cornell Medicine interested in education, health disparities and access to care. Knowing the challenges of navigating the medical school application process and the systemic inequities in education, she hopes that RTM can help to empower future generations of medical students.
Ageline Sahagun Salas
Co-Director
Ageline is an MD candidate at Weill Cornell Medical College. She was born and raised on the island of Saipan, in the U.S. Territory of the Northern Marianas Islands. She started at Guam Community College, where she received her certificate in medical assisting before transferring to the University of Guam where she finished her Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology. Growing up in an immigrant household and being raised by her native Pacific Islander community has played a pivotal role in her desires to shine light on the disparities faced not just by her own community, but those of other marginalized populations.
Sakila Nazia
Co-Director
Sakila is an MD-PhD student at the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD program interested in infectious disease and social medicine. She grew up in an immigrant community in Queens, NY after her parents immigrated from Bangladesh, and graduated from Columbia University. She is passionate about mentorship and uplifting those from marginalized communities. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about applying straight, the MD-PhD track, or anything else.
Chris Chang
Contributor
Chris is a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College. He grew up in New Jersey after his family immigrated from Korea when he was 5 years old. He graduated from Vassar College in 2020 with a B.A. in Biochemistry. Reflecting on his experiences in the healthcare system, he is passionate about addressing healthcare disparities in immigrant populations—specifically those caused by language and cultural barriers. He is also passionate about art and frequently explores ways to bridge art and medicine in his studies and personal projects.
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Ellie Benitez
Contributor
Ellie Benitez is an MD-PD student at the Weill Cornell/ Rockefeller/ Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program interested in developing therapies to treat genetic diseases and cancer. She grew up in Culver City, CA and graduated from UCLA in 2018 with a major in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. After graduation, Ellie spent two years as a research associate in the lab of Dr. Donald B. Kohn working towards improving CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing strategies to treat monogenic hematopoietic disorders with a focus on sickle cell disease. She is passionate about mentorship and empowering women to pursue biomedical careers, as well as improving accessibility to healthcare for all.
Abby Shilvock
Contributor
Abby is an MD-PhD student at the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD program interested in cell/developmental biology and pathology. She grew up in a small farmtown in rural upstate NY and completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University as a biological sciences major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is currently doing her thesis research in the laboratory of Jennifer Zallen at Sloan Kettering Institute.