Rahul Arora boasts an outstanding resume as a science editor, scholar, and researcher, which is all the more impressive considering he only graduated high school a year ago. He is currently a Student Editor at the STEM Fellowship Journal, a journal dedicated to the publication of high school and undergraduate student research. Last March, when he first heard of the initiative, Arora contacted the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, CSE member Dr. Sacha Noukhovitch, to see how he could contribute. The editorial team published their first issue in July 2015.
While publishing is a relatively new interest for Arora, he has always been interested in science. He is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and is a member of the university’s Scholars Academy. This summer, under the supervision of Dr. Tien Phan, he is conducting a retrospective review of inflammatory breast cancer patients in Alberta.
Arora is a passionate advocate for equal opportunity and the eradication of poverty. He has volunteered more than 500 hours to help Calgary’s homeless. In high school, he served as a youth volunteer group leader for both the Salvation Army and the Calgary Drop-in & Rehab Centre Society.
Aside from studying, editing science, and generally making the world a better place, Arora is an avid reader. He has just finished reading Atul Gawande’s Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. When asked what advice he might offer someone interested in biomedical communication, Arora suggested those looking to enter the field seek out a mentor to help them navigate the publication landscape and inform them of opportunities (e.g., the CSE Scholarship). STEM Fellowship is looking to provide a formal mentorship program in the future, targeted at students interested in scholarly publishing, including both writing and editing. They recently offered an internship program at the University of British Columbia Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research.
Arora is grateful to CSE for the scholarship that allowed him to attend the 2016 annual meeting in Denver. CSE is equally fortunate to have him as a new member; he has some great ideas for how we could better connect to students, as evidenced by his presentation to the Membership Committee meeting in Denver.