Emma Neary is a first-year medical student at Queen’s University and a Queen’s Accelerated Route to Medical School (QuARMS) alumni, as well as a native of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Having been diagnosed with IBD in 2014 and psoriatic arthritis in 2017, her first-hand experience as a patient with chronic illnesses has shaped her interests in the fields of medicine and research.

Emma has volunteering experience in Kingston at a student-run soup kitchen and in the Kingston General Hospital. In her hometown, she was an Advanced Medical First Responder with the St. John Ambulance and an executive member of the Memorial University of Newfoundland’s World Health Organization Society.

Currently, she is researching the relationship between opioid receptors and pain signalling in the gut at the Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Unit (GIDRU) in Kingston as a student researcher.

As an aspiring gastroenterologist and clinician scientist, Emma hopes to give back to the IBD community through advocacy for more patient-focused treatments and research.