Major: Kinesiology - Sports Medicine Concentration
Minor: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Annie Chen is a senior majoring in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sports Medicine and pursuing a minor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has been a member of Rice EMS since her freshman year and heavily attributes her motivation for pursuing a career in medicine to her experiences on REMS. In addition to responding to medical emergencies on campus, Annie also helps with CPR classes, special event coverage on campus, and skills training.
Through her studies at Rice, Annie was introduced to Dr. Laura Kabiri and her research. Annie worked with Dr. Kabiri on several research projects, the first was RunningWISE, where she mentored 5th graders at the University of Houston Charter School by implementing biweekly walk to jog programs to improve their cardiorespiratory fitness. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many families to transition to virtual learning, it was important to understand how parents adjusted to this drastic change. Thus, Annie shifted her focus to compare parents of homeschooled versus public-schooled children and co-authored a paper investigating the impact of the pandemic on parental resilience.
Besides academics, Annie is involved with Tunes for Life, an organization where Rice students lead weekly music discussion classes for underserved communities in Houston. Annie teaches these classes to participants at the Women’s Home, many of who were previously homeless and currently recovering from alcohol/substance abuse. These classes have shown her the power of relating music and artistry to personal experience and how various intersections can impact an individual’s perception of a song. Annie is also heavily involved at Jones, where she serves as Year-Long Peer Academic Advisor and is a member of the Women’s Bike Team. As a PAA, she gives academic advice and information to her peers and helps underclassmen plan their schedules. She is also the event coordinator for 6100Main, a club that promotes fashion as a form of self-expression. Annie recently became involved with SACROMERE where she participated in the medical massage team and contributed to giving over 200 post-marathon massages to runners at the 2022 Chevron Houston Marathon. In her free time, she likes to lift at the campus recreation center, go indoor bouldering, try new food recipes, thrift with friends, and create visual art.
After graduating from Rice, Annie plans on attending medical school. She is deeply grateful for the experiences and opportunities given to her by Rice and hopes to carry this wisdom and knowledge into her future endeavors.