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Meet the Officers

The following students make up the current AMSA ARC leadership.

Photo of Matthew ParanialMatthew Paranial
President

The third of four children Matthew Paranial grew up in South Kona Hawaii where he graduated from Konawaena High school in 2000, enlisting in the United Sates Air Force in September of that year. During his six years of military service Matt traveled the globe serving tours in Korea, Qatar, and Kyrgyzstan in support of both operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Once he completed his enlistment in 2006 Matt relocated to Sacramento in order to be closer to his mother and siblings. After a year of trying his hand in the work force Matt decided to pursue his education enrolling in American River College in the fall of 2007. Shortly After he began at ARC Matt discovered a passion for medicine and declared biological science as his major with the intent of applying to medical school.

Currently Matt is attending his fifth year at ARC where he is the President of AMSA ARC as well as acting as a conference board member for the AMSA ARC/ UCD pre med conference. Matt plans on transferring to UC Davis to finish his undergraduate work “soon”. In his spare time Matt has volunteered at the Mercy San Juan Emergency room and practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (though school keeps him from going very often and he admits he is not very good).

 

Photo of Stephanie SoderbergStephanie Soderberg
Executive Vice President

Stephanie Soderberg was born in Sacramento and graduated from Inderkum High School in 2009 with honors and as captain of her school’s volleyball team. She liked to stay busy by working, going to school, volunteering, playing volleyball, and being a part of various school organizations such as AVID tutoring.

Stephanie started attending American River College in fall of 2009 and continues being active by playing on American River College’s volleyball team. She is a biological science major at American River College and plans on transferring to UC Davis in the fall of 2011.

Fascinated by surgery, Stephanie Soderberg jumped at the opportunity to apply for the AMSA ARC surgical internship program. She was thrilled to be accepted over so many exceptional applicants. Stephanie enjoys being a part of this program, and solidified her desire to become a surgeon through this wonderful experience.

In addition of being a part of AMSA ARC’s surgical internship, Stephanie was elected as the Vice President of Outreach for the fall 2010-2011 school year. She is excited to have a leadership role in the AMSA program and looks forward to working with the other officers.

Stephanie recently was a part of a research program over at UC Davis’ NPB department and is currently completing another winter research program with the Center of Biophotinics.

In her free time Stephanie enjoys reading, playing volleyball, and spending time with her family and friends. She currently lives with her parents, her younger brother Devon, and her dog Bella.

 

Photo of John BeachJohn Beach
Vice President of Finance

John Beach is a Californian, born and raised. Being local he has had the opportunity to network with people and serve others throughout the community in school, church activities, and boy scouts.

During high school, John participated in competitive speech where he won several state and national awards for interpretive and platform pieces. He was the State Champion in Thematic Interpretation in 2007 and Persuasive Speaking in 2008. John has sung with the youth and adult choirs at Fremont Presbyterian Church for over ten years and still works in a youth music camp during the summers. For eight years, John played trumpet and French horn in school band and continues to perform with that band as well as teach others. He is an Eagle Scout and is currently the Eagle Scout Mentor for Troop 107 in Carmichael.

John enjoys outdoor sports like running, biking, and playing Ultimate. He is a blood donor and has participated in the Run to Feed the Hungry for the last fourteen years as well as completing a half marathon.

As a sophomore at American River College, John is taking premed classes with the goal of transferring to UC Davis to major in Neurology, Physiology, and Behavioral Sciences. He is a member of Phi Theta Kappa and AMSA ARC. In AMSA he has served as a Community Service Committee member, Vice President of Community Service, and is currently the Vice President of Finance. He is grateful for the education and service opportunities that he has had at ARC and trusts that it will enable him to become a U.S. Army emergency room doctor.

 

Photo of Liu SuiLiu Sui
Vice President of Fundraising

Liu Sui was born and raised in North-Eastern China. She came to the United States in the year 2007 with limited English skills. However, America is a country full of equal opportunities. Liu likes this country of freedom and the exploration of unknown adventures it provides.

For Liu, English is her biggest challenge. When Liu just arrived in California in 2007, she went to an adult school to learn English, and she then enrolled in American River College as an ESL student. Despite to her disadvantage the language barrier, she does her best to achieve the best. Later Liu found out her interests in science classes. Becoming a physician is Liu’s ultimate goal and she knows there are many difficulties yet to come for her to overcome.

Liu joined the AMSA club to help herself find out more information about the health field and to have fun with those who have similar ambitions. She plans on helping more students who are interested in healthcare.

Liu plans to transfer to UC Davis at Fall 2012.

 

Photo of Soojung MyoungSoojung Myoung
Vice President of Activities

Soo Jung is a graduate of the University of California, Davis in the Human Development major. She enjoyed the social sciences until she discovered a passion for working in the medical field. She is currently employed by a laboratory that provides quantitative bioanalytical services to pharmaceutical companies. In addition, she is attending classes at American River College in preparation for medical school. She also volunteers as an intern for a small non-profit organization, the SHARE Institute, where she has become interested in addressing issues within local immigrant communities and alleviating global health and economic problems.

 

Photo of Alexander ListerAlexander Lister
Vice President of Outreach

Alexander was raised in Sacramento, California. He spent most of his childhood growing up in the suburb of Antelope. At an early age, he knew he wanted to become a physician.
After graduating from Center High School in 2006, he decided to study Physical Sciences at ARC. After two years taking rigorous science courses, he applied, and was accepted to UCLA. He jumped at the opportunity to transfer to the UC system. While at UCLA, he majored in Afro-American Studies while minoring in psychology.
Upon completion of his Bachelors from UCLA, Alexander decided to finish his science courses at American River College. It was then he discovered the benefits of AMSA ARC. In January 2011, he became a committee member. He enjoyed the AMSA team so much, he applied for the Outreach position.
AMSA ARC has given Alexander numerous opportunities to meet physicians, medical students and medical staff. In the future, he plans to continue his roll at AMSA ARC and apply for medical school during the 2012 cycle.

 

Photo of Manharjot AhluwaliaManharjot Ahluwalia
Vice President of Records

Nineteen years old, Manharjot was born in San Francisco and has lived half his life in Sacramento. He graduated from Florin High School with honors in 2010. Manharjot is in second year at ARC and plans to transfer to UCD majoring in Biomedical Eng. Hopefully Fall or 2012. Body systems fascinate Manhar and he finds medicine to be a most rewarding and intriguing career. His brother birth defects and mothers heart disease has kept him has kept me exposed to it health care all his life. He can see himself doing nothing other than medicine and so it is what he is pursuing.

Was introduced to AMSA his first week of school and was pulled towards the thought of meeting people who had the same goals as him and having a place where they could collaborate. He knew that this was what he needed and decided to become more involved. He showed up to every meeting, worked on a committee, and took the opportunity to be an Officer. AMSA ARC has informed him greatly about the pre/post-educational medical pathway ahead of him and has helped shape him into a more involved and engaged person.

Aside from AMSA, Manhar is involved in AMSA ARC/UCD Pre-med Conference. He works as a Program Assistant at MESA center where he helps manage the center and tutors other students in the sciences on campus. Manharjot is active within his Sikh temple, where he involved with the Sikh youth, participates in sermons and is a Sunday school teacher.

Photo of Kiren FareedKiren Fareed
Vice President of Public Relations

Kiran was born and raised in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. She lived there for six years before moving to California. Her parents moved to the United States in hopes that Kiran would have access to a good education and a brighter future. Besides speaking English, Kiran is also fluent in Punjabi, Urdu, and Hindi. In her spare time, Kiran enjoys outdoor activities such as kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, and snowboarding. She is also an amateur painter and has received first prize ribbons from competitions at the California State Fair on several occasions.

Kiran spends much of her free time volunteering at the UC Davis Medical Center. In her senior year of high school and the summer afterwards, she volunteered at Davis Tower 6, Cardiology. This experience led her to discover many qualities and skills about herself that she had never before recognized. She was able to communicate with stubborn patients, ease the stress of worried family members, feed paralyzed patients, befriend and gain trust of the RN nurses, and translate for immigrant patients. Kiran is currently volunteering at UC Davis Medical Center in the ER Department and hopes to continue gaining more skills that will one day allow her to pursue her career in Health Care.

Kiran is currently a sophomore at American River College (ARC) and a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She also works as a tutor for MESA at her college, which is a learning program for students interested in fields of Mathematics, Engineering, and Science. Kiran is very enthusiastic to accept the position as Officer of Public Relations and hopes to use her talents and experiences to fulfill her duties and commit to doing her very best for AMSA ARC.

 

Photo of Nathan MargoliashNathan Margoliash
Vice President of Membership

My name is Nathan Margoliash, I was born in San Francisco, CA, yet I grew up in Mill Valley, California across the Golden Gate Bridge. My passion for medicine evolved during the summer of 1996 at Camp Arazim Jewish Summer Camp in Oakdale, CA, where as a counselor I volunteered to help in the infirmary. Every child I helped in and out of the infirmary that summer eventually kindled a secret passion to become a Pediatrician. While I was gaining my Associates Degree in Psychology at American River College, I felt intimidated by the Calculus and the Chemistry involved to become a pediatrician, so I turned my pursuits towards Music Therapy. After I finished my lower division coursework in Psychology, I decided to take a 2 year break from school. While interviewing for a position as youth program director at Congregation Beth Shalom in Sacramento, I was reminded of my passion for pediatrics. I decided to conquer my fear of math and science, abandon my pursuits of Music Therapy and return to my original passion of Pediatrics, except, not so secret this time.

I’m currently attending American River College in order to complete my lower division pre-Medical School coursework. After American River College I plan on transferring to Sacramento State University in order to complete my upper division pre-Medical coursework, take the MCAT, gain my Bachelor’s Degree in Child Psychology and eventually gain admission to a California medical school.

Aside from furthering my passion for Pediatrics, being an officer for AMSA ARC, work and school, during my spare time I enjoy swing dancing at Midtown Stomp on Friday Nights, music editing, cooking, writing lyrics/composing music, singing, playing guitar, playing piano, writing poetry, bike riding, hiking and amateur voice acting.

Photo of David SkorobrukhDavid Skorobrukh
Vice President of I.T.

My name is David Skorobrukh, I was born in Sacramento. While I spent most of my childhood in Sacramento and Elk Grove, I’ve had the opportunity to live in Glenn County, a beautiful agricultural region. I graduated from a local home school in 2008.

During most of my youth, I always had a curiosity in science and medicine due to influences from my parents and their interests in alternative medicine. Even though I had many motivations, medicine was one of my reasons to go to college. I went with an open mind to explore and to see what I would enjoy doing. While taking general education courses and working on my prerequisites, the one class that really caught my mind was chemistry. While being one of the toughest courses I took so far, it really fascinated me. I ended up tutoring chemistry over the next couple years and built some excellent relationships with my chemistry professors. Dispite my love for chemistry, I still wanted to know about medicine. Luckily, I ran into MESA, an amazing studying center, and there I’ve heard about AMSA ARC. Due to my schedule, I wasn’t able to come to the meetings till this spring. One of my first meetings ended up being the officer selections day. I wanted to be involved in AMSA ARC and learn more about medicine, so I took the plunge and ran for officer. I ended up taking up the I.T. position, due to my interests in computers. And here I am.

As of now, I am currently completing prerequisites for medical school and will transfer as a chemistry major. I tutor whenever my school schedule permits and I’m involved with CAconnects, a program designed to increase digital literacy to underserved california communities. When I don’t study, I enjoy reading for leisure, music, walking, tinkering with computers, and being with my family.