Lynnie Chong ’21

An Abundance of Opportunities Leads to an Early Acceptance to Medical School

Student Success

Lynnie Chong ’21 is a Biochemistry major who chose Iona because she was amazed at the number of opportunities it offers, including the Early Acceptance Program with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) and Mission & Ministry Immersion trips.

An Honors Program student who was awarded a scholarship from Iona, Lynnie is active on campus as a member of the National Society for Leadership and Success and as a sister of the Gamma Lambda Rho sorority. "Being a member of Gamma Lambda Rho has truly allowed me to have such a supportive group of women behind me and I am blessed to have them!" Lynnie said.

She has also participated in the Disaster Response mission trip to Houston, Texas; and the mission trip to Ireland, where she visited a prison, served in a soup kitchen and visited a day center for the homeless. In 2020, she will lead the new mission trip to Jamaica.

As a budding scientist, Lynnie is a National Science Foundation (NSF) research fellow in the chemistry research group Project Symphony, which is run by Sunghee Lee, Ph.D., Board of Trustees Endowed Professor in Chemistry. Lynnie also works as a research assistant and fellow in Dr. Lee’s lab.

"Being a part of Dr. Lee’s lab has allowed me to gain experience working in a research lab and learning new lab techniques," Lynnie said. "I've traveled with Dr. Lee to Boston and San Diego to present our research and I will be traveling to Philadelphia, San Francisco and hopefully many more cities over the next year. Together our research has won two awards, and I am so excited to see what the future holds."

One of her best memories at Iona was the presentation of her research at Iona Scholar's Day. Of that experience, Lynnie said, "It was amazing to talk to not only my peers about my research but also the faculty. At Iona Scholars Day, I won the Poster Presentation Award, which was such an honor!"

Lynnie plans on being an Emergency Medicine doctor and has already been accepted to LECOM through the Early Acceptance Program.

"I am also looking forward to taking the lessons I’ve learned at Iona and applying them in the real world," Lynnie said.