Bassel Lawand

I try to find joy in everything I do.

Medicine

Left ventricle

From Cedars-Sinai’s inpatient floors to vascular surgery at UCI Health, my clinical work has put me in the room with patients. Being in that room is why I want to be a physician.

  1. Medical scribe

    2026

    ScribeAmerica at UCI Health, Vascular Surgery

    • I wrote the note in Epic as each visit happened: history, review of systems, exam, assessment and plan.
    • The cases I observed ranged from endovascular interventions and wound care to a spinal fusion done jointly with orthopedics.

  2. Medical assistant

    2025, full-time

    Flor Geola, MD, Endocrinology Private Practice, Los Angeles

    • About 30 patients a day, living with diabetes, thyroid and metabolic conditions.
    • Prior authorizations, labs and charting in Practice Fusion.

  3. Certified phlebotomist

    California CPT-1 license, national NPT certification

    • Trained in venipuncture, capillary and butterfly draws.
    • Patient identification, order of draw and infection control.

  4. Clinical volunteer

    700+ hours

    Cedars-Sinai, MemorialCare and Anchor Health

    • The cardiology and surgical floors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
    • The surgical, oncology and acute care units at MemorialCare in Mission Viejo.
    • Remote hospice companionship with Anchor Health.

Research

Left atrium

In the Kwon Lab I learned patience, one reaction and one column at a time. In Sendai, where even the morning lab meetings were in Japanese, I learned to work across a language barrier.

  1. Undergraduate researcher

    2022 to 2023

    Kwon Lab, UCLA

    • Building complex natural products from simple starting materials, with Prof. Ohyun Kwon.
    • I ran multi-step syntheses, purifying each step by column chromatography and checking it by NMR and mass spectrometry.
    The Kwon Lab, about twenty people, in front of Royce Hall's brick towers at UCLA. Bassel stands at the far left in a light blue shirt.

  2. Research assistant

    Mar to Aug 2023

    Ohashi Lab, Tohoku University, Sendai

    • One semester in Prof. Kazumasa Ohashi’s lab, under the guidance of Prof. Ken-ichi Yasumoto.
    • I followed JIPs, DLK and PHD3 in HeLa cells under osmotic stress.
    • I presented the work in August 2023, at the close of Tohoku’s Junior Year Program in English (JYPE).
    The Ohashi Lab group in their lab room at Tohoku University, about twenty people. Bassel stands centre-left in a striped shirt.
    Bassel sitting on wide stone steps below the TOHOKU UNIVERSITY sign, tall trees behind him on a bright summer day.

My 1,000+ research hours span lab courses and two labs.

Teaching

Right atrium

I study until I understand, so I never memorize by brute force. When students get lost in tiny details, I show them the big picture: how to read a problem, rethink their approach and see how simple it really is.

  1. Science tutor

    Since 2019

    One on one, mostly through BasselTutor, and on Preply

    • 200+ students since high school, with a perfect 5.0 on Preply.
    • Grades went up for every student, including F-to-A turnarounds.
    • Whole chemistry courses taught in a single week.
    • Problems students rate a 9/10 in difficulty often end at a 2/10.
Tutoring

Building

Right ventricle

Most of my apps started as something I needed: flashcards for the MCAT became Anki Tool, and Korean stories at my level became Jireader.

  1. Anki Tool

    Chrome extension

    • My most-used app, with 15K+ installs and 5K+ people opening it every month.

  2. PrimerMed

    primermed.com

    • A primer on medicine for pre-meds and new scribes.
    • 80+ topics and 50+ scribe guides.

  3. Jireader

    jireader.com

    • 400+ graded Korean stories, with narrated audio and quizzes.
    • A placement test and a Hangul primer for day one.

I’m continuing to build new projects, and I’m always open to requests and partnerships.

Projects

Education

UCLA

B.S. Biochemistry, 2021 to 2025

  • 3.91 GPA
  • Departmental highest honors
  • Dean’s List for 9 quarters
Royce Hall at UCLA in golden late-afternoon light, its two brick towers against a clear blue sky above the lawn.
Bassel Lawand smiling on a stone balcony in late-afternoon sun, in a white shirt, a dark tie and a blue UCLA stole that reads Class of 2025.

Tohoku University

JYPE exchange semester, Mar to Aug 2023

A semester of coursework in Sendai, alongside my research in the Ohashi Lab.

Mission Viejo High School

2017 to 2021

Valedictorian with a 5.01 GPA and the IB Diploma. I was on the swim team and played cello in the orchestra.

Languages

  • English
  • Français
  • 日本語Japanese
  • 한국어Korean

Skills

Medicine
Epic and Practice Fusion, visit notes, phlebotomy
Research
Multi-step synthesis, column chromatography, NMR, mass spectrometry, cell culture, fluorescence microscopy
Teaching
General, organic and biochemistry, biology, MCAT (Chem/Phys, Bio/Biochem, Psych/Soc and CARS)
Building
TypeScript, Python, React, Next.js, React Native (Expo), Supabase, Firebase, Stripe, DeepSeek and Gemini APIs, Whisper, WebGPU, Chrome extensions

I feel like time is limited, so I try to experience and learn as much as I can.

Each new skill or experience adds another piece to who I’m becoming.