Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, students, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is Emily Johnston.
Emily Johnston, PhD, MPH, RDN, CDE
California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Education, Faculty Lead: Nutrition and Culinary Medicine
How long have you been a member of IAMSE?
Since the fall of 2018 (~ 3 years)
Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to?
Soon after signing up for IAMSE membership, I joined the Student Professional Development Committee. I ended up meeting my future department chair and another co-worker through that committee. Through my SPDC work, I have been able to network with professionals across the country and around the world, something that the COVID-19 pandemic would have otherwise largely prohibited. I also really love the IAMSE Café sessions as they help me to feel connected and inspired by the outstanding programming other colleagues are implementing. I look forward to attending my first in-person IAMSE meeting sometime in the future.
What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now? Research, presentations, etc.
I am working on including more students in my research projects, which focus on nutrition in medical education and clinical care. The students I am working with are creating lifestyle interventions for patients with uncontrolled diabetes or hypertension to be administered over the phone and through social media and video platforms. The students are really creative and very excited about their projects!
Looking back at your time during your graduate studies and early career, if you could give your younger self a piece of advice what would it be?
Meditate, slow down, enjoy this time because you cannot get it back. Also, apply for more grants because even if you do not get them, you usually get great feedback and sometimes even meet future collaborations through the process.
Anything else that you would like to add?
I am grateful to be a recipient of an IAMSE Educational Scholarship Grant, with my colleague Dr. Leanne Coyne, for our project, “Shopping for Health: A Virtual Reality Educational Intervention”. We hope to share our findings at a future IAMSE meeting.