AAPI Heritage Month
June 2023

By: SemegaChange
Written by: Leila Biola Olukoga
Anushka Angle is a rising senior from New York University who has demonstrated her interest in medical practice her whole life. From her founding of the VAW Medical Chapter at NYU to participating in oncological research for cancer, Angle has demonstrated her ability to push against boundaries as a woman of color in STEM.
Five-year-old Anushka Angle had always grown up with a myriad of interests. From exploring her love for dancing to participating in advocacy for women’s rights, Angle has continued to pursue her various interests as she’s grown up.
Now, as a rising senior in NYU’s College of Arts and Science, Angle has combined her previous interests with the medical field. As a biology major and future gynecologist, Angle has already left her mark within the various medical extracurricular activities she’s involved herself in.
“I’m a part of research labs at NYU’s Medical School, research at Cornell's Medical School this summer, and also shadowing doctors,” Angle said. “I am also the founder and president of the VAW, Global Health Alliances chapter at NYU.”
Angle said that participating in this plethora of extracurricular activities has allowed her to grow her love for biology.
“I've always had a passion for STEM ever since I was very little,” Angle said. “I realized that I was interested in biology because I felt that if I learned about that, I learned more about myself and my own body. I can use biology to actually help people and be a part of revolutionary findings in the world.”
Outside of research labs, Angle has worked with various organizations involved in women’s health advocacy.
“I've always been a huge proponent of women's rights, and women's studies,” Angle said. “A lot of my extracurricular activities mainly involve advocating for women. Currently, I'm part of a writing magazine and a lot of my articles involve women's health advocacy.”
As a result of Angle’s work in biology as well as women’s rights, Angle hopes to pursue a future career in gynecology in regards to aiding women of color.
“Once I go into medical school and I decide to go into a specialty, I would really love to pursue Obstetrics and Gynecology and also do a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine,” Angle said. “I really want to combine my passion for women's rights and also alleviating health disparities to work on providing high-quality, effective health care for women.”
Despite the many accomplishments throughout her life, Angle has faced and continues to face adversity as a woman of color in STEM.
“I feel that me being South Asian has kind of pushed me towards choosing [a career in medicine],” Angle said. “I feel that the cons are, as part of Indian culture, women don't necessarily have to work. I feel like that's definitely a conflict, just among cultural rules or expectations that mainly conflict with my background as well.”
As a South Asian woman, Angle said that she has worked to break the boundaries for people of similar backgrounds in STEM.
“A motivating factor [of being a woman of color] is basically the reactions I get from helping people of similar backgrounds,” Angle said. “I get to inspire other South Asian people to basically show that it's possible. It’s nice to just talk about my experiences or help influence people and serve as an inspiration for South Asian people to go be part of medicine or be a part of NYU.”
As Angle continues her work in the medical field and women’s health advocacy, Angle said that it is important for women of color in STEM to use adversity as motivation
“You have to find that internal drive and motivation to basically achieve whatever you want,” Angle said. “If as women of color, there's going to be adversity everywhere, we just need to learn how to channel that into basically creating internal fuel and using that to drive us to pursue our goals even further.”
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