Israa Ismail

Israa Ismail is a second-year medical student at Weill Cornell Medicine based in New York City. She is a Scholars Program graduate of CUNY Brooklyn College where she obtained a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. Israa has experience working in the nonprofit sector, spending a year working directly in healthcare policy and advocacy for immigrant and refugee populations. As a member of AMSA National for over six years, Israa first became involved with AMSA at the undergraduate level during her freshman year of college. While initially gaining experience in local chapter leadership, Israa worked her way up to eventually serving in the role of President of her local chapter. Most recently, Israa has served as the Global Health Policy Coordinator at AMSA National for the past four consecutive years. Israa is passionate about global healthcare systems, looking to address disparities in underserved communities and advocate for community sustainability. Israa holds a strong background in research, participating in the COVID-19 Navigation Project at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to understand the effects of vaccine hesitancy on Arab-American immigrant populations undergoing chemotherapy as well as the BioMimetics & Cognitive Robotics Lab collecting data on the neural and behavioral ecology of monk parakeets to understand mating behavior and social intelligence. When not working as a medical assistant, Israa enjoys spending her time traveling, trying new foods, watching movies, and being outdoors.