Stem cells are a unique and important cell type in the human body. They are undifferentiated, which means they aren’t specialized yet. They can become anything the body needs — a brain cell, a heart muscle cell, a bone cell.
As Dr. Bryan White, a teaching professor in the University of Washington Bothell’s School of STEM, tells his classes: students are just like stem cells. Their paths are yet to be determined, but they have great potential.
For one of his students, Emerald Chuesh, this nugget of wisdom meant everything.
“I love Dr. White’s stem cell analogy and how he says that students, too, can be whatever they want to be. It’s an important message that I’ve taken with me,” said Chuesh, who graduated in June with a bachelor’s in Health Studies. “Having that lesson come from a really influential mentor makes it that much more special to me. I want to pay his work forward and be able to influence others to understand their potential — to know that it’s to take big leaps and, ultimately, change can be good.”
At the Commencement Ceremony in June, Chuesh was honored as the 2025 President’s Medal recipient — a recognition given each year to the UW Bothell student with the most distinguished academic record. Throughout her college journey, Chuesh learned many things, she said, but the most valuable lesson of all was how to follow her own path.
Newfound passion for research
Though she’s a first-generation student, Chuesh said it was always expected that she would go to college. Her parents put great emphasis on education and encouraged her to someday become a doctor.
“I know it can be a challenging topic for Asian Americans, but I appreciate the pressure my parents put on me and that they wanted me to do my best and strive to succeed,” she said. “I don’t think I would have gotten this far without their support.”
When Chuesh arrived at UW Bothell, she had every intention of following a pre-med track and fulfilling her parents’ wishes. As she explored the opportunities available to her on campus, however, she discovered a passion for research.
“Having small class sizes and being in close proximity to my professors at UW Bothell has been really influential,” she said. “I don’t think I would’ve had the same research opportunities on a larger campus. The connections I’ve had with my professors and the research I’ve been a part of have been the driving force of my academic journey and my career path.”
From hands-on lab work to publishing and presenting her findings, Chuesh gained experience in all aspects of the research process. Not only did she love the work itself, but she had a knack for it. “These experiences showed me that being a researcher and working in a lab better fits my aspirations, my strengths and what I am truly interested in doing,” she said.
Chuesh loves the appeal of supporting scientific advancement and how research can have a greater reach than if she were just treating patients one-to-one. Her interest in public health, and neuroscience in particular, she said, also stems from witnessing her peers receive unsatisfactory mental health aid growing up, as well as her own personal struggles with anxiety and mental health.
“The connections I’ve had with my professors and the research I’ve been a part of have been the driving force of my academic journey and my career path.”
Emerald Chuesh, 2025 President’s Medalist, Health Studies ’25
Personal journey of growth
When White was looking for students to join a project on test anxiety, Chuesh wanted badly to be a part of it but was hesitant to sign up. But she worked up the courage with support from a friend and became part of a cross-disciplinary team of student researchers working with White and Dr. Linda Eaton, assistant professor in the School of Nursing & Health Studies, to develop a mindfulness recording to help students reduce stress during exams.
“It was really cool to be able to tie my own struggles with anxiety and mental health into actual research to provide support for students at UW Bothell,” she said. “It’s been really motivating to know that I’m not the only one who’s suffering in silence and that there are people who are willing to help me. I’m really honored to be able to be the person to help others as well.”
The project lasted two and a half years, and during that time, White watched Chuesh grow from a shy student who was unsure about even joining the research into being a project leader.
“When I first met Emerald, I saw the struggles she had with anxiety,” wrote White in his nomination letter. “She tended to shy away from public speaking, and was critical and unsure of her ideas. However, since I have worked with her, I have witnessed a grand transformation. Emerald helped lead the student advisory group, and in executing the study and analyzing the data, she began to take on additional leadership roles.”
White noted that although Chuesh was nervous, she excelled at presenting the findings at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. She also took on the primary role of submitting the research for publication and earned the first author distinction on the first of several papers to come out of the research.
The freedom to explore
Chuesh said that one of the things she enjoyed most about the test anxiety project and her time at UW Bothell was the ability she had to explore various intersections of health and science.
“UW Bothell has given me a lot of freedom to explore, and many of the classes are tied together,” she said. “The interdisciplinarity of the classes and how all these different academic fields are connected is really inspiring to me. Being able to work with all these amazing people who are all going into different careers but still linked has been so valuable.”
Through her classes, she further explored the interconnectedness of public health and how it reaches far beyond the hard sciences. “Public health is everything,” she said, adding that it can mean having access to anything from a doctor and medicine to a grocery store and clean air.
Chuesh is passionate about health equity and interested in research that can help improve access disparities. While at UW Bothell, she spent her summers working as a unit leader at Camp Prov, a day camp for children with disabilities.
“It was an incredibly rewarding experience,” she said. “Camp Prov has strengthened my dedication to neuroscience and serving marginalized communities. I’ve gained a greater perspective on the spectrum of human abilities and the value of inclusive opportunities. Working with these amazing kids teaches me to approach challenges with compassion and creativity as I learn about my own resilience and potential.”
The path to differentiation
“Emerald has the making of being a fantastic lab scientist,” wrote Dr. Kristina Hillesland, associate professor in the School of STEM, in her nomination letter. “She has all the skills she needs to excel at doing experiments in the lab. She is also very bright and hard-working, which means she will be able to understand and contribute to the scientific process intellectually at the highest levels.”
As being awarded the President’s Medal signifies, Chuesh’s time at UW Bothell was marked by her academic excellence and recognition from her peers and mentors. In addition to this receiving this recognition, she was previously named a Husky 100 honoree in 2024.
Despite all her successes, Chuesh said she still feels like a stem cell — waiting to find her place in the world — but now she looks forward to charting her own course and going after what she wants.
“Being a researcher is what I aspire to be, and I think it’s really cool that I have all these outlets that I can go into because of my interdisciplinary curriculum,” she said.
“And now, coming out of doing collaborative research, I feel confident enough to put myself out there and apply for the things that are important to me.”
