Meet the Next Generation of Physician Leaders at Rutgers Health

As Chancellor's Scholars, Hailey Sulzbach and Angela Zhao will serve as role models and engage in a faculty-mentored enrichment program

In addition to their Ivy League pedigrees, it was Hailey Sulzbach's compassion, humility and work ethic and Angela Zhao's humanism and vision to address health disparities that caught the eyes of Rutgers Health leadership.

Those reasons, among others, are why the two medical school students were named this year's Chancellor's Scholars, a prestigious scholarship developed by Rutgers Health Chancellor Brian Strom.

Hailey Sulzbach

Each year since 2016, Strom selects two first-year medical school students, one attending Robert Wood Johnson Medical Schoolin New Brunswick, N.J., the other at Rutgers New Jersey Medical Schoolin Newark, N.J., to be Chancellor's Scholars. (The two schools are being integrated to form the future Rutgers School of Medicine, which is expected to come together officially in 2027.)

"The scholarship is really intended to attract and keep superstars, and it's been working that way," said Strom.

The selections are based on superior academic achievements and experiential qualifications in leadership, service and research. The recipients are expected to be role models in the medical school community and engage in a structured faculty-mentored enrichment program.

Angela Zhao

"I meet with them roughly quarterly and give them career advice as they go through school," Strom said. "I make connections with them - helping them figure out who they should be meeting and working with. To navigate a career in medicine, it really helps to know people and have mentors."

In addition to Sulzbach and Zhao, previous Chancellor's Scholars include Jake Gluckman and Charles A. Williams (attending Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and New Jersey Medical School, respectively) from 2024; Sophie Smith and Charlene Mansour from 2023; Noah Freundlich and Carlos Garcia Colon from 2022; and Alex Jiang and Daniel Garcia from 2021.

Sulzbach, who hails from Washington Township, N.J., and earned a bachelor of arts degree in molecular biology from Princeton University, said being named a Chancellor's Scholar at Rutgers "just means everything to me."

Besides proximity to family, it was the people who drew Sulzbach to Rutgers.

She said after experiencing "Accepted Students Day" and information sessions, "All the students currently at Rutgers were so welcoming and down to earth. It was refreshing coming from a competitive pre-med environment to seeing actual medical students being collaborative and welcoming."

On Lake Carnegie at Princeton University, Hailey Sulzbach gets a pat on the shoulder from another member of the Princeton women's rowing team.

Sulzbach, a coxswainon the Princeton women's rowing team (which took third place in NCAA Division I competition in 2023and fourth place in 2024) for three years, said medicine "has always been" on her mind. Her high school experience at Gloucester County Institute of Technology, a vocational-technical school in Deptford Township, N.J., solidified that calling.

"I enjoyed the idea of medicine where you're learning every single day, whether it be from your patients, your colleagues, the attending above you or the nurse next to you," she said. "I enjoy not only the team aspect, coming from a team sports mindset, but just that we can learn from each other."

I enjoyed the idea of medicine where you're learning every single day, whether it be from your patients, your colleagues, the attending above you or the nurse next to you.

Hailey Sulzbach

Chancellor's Scholar

As for her medical school journey, Sulzbach said both general and orthopedic surgery "are top of mind for me. I also like pediatrics and anesthesiology. Those are probably my top four."

She said while they are very different in some respects, "it's important going in with an open mind."

"Hailey obviously achieved great accomplishments in the academic realm and proposed a well thought out scholarly project, as all chancellor's scholarship finalists do, but it was her compassion, humility, down to earth nature and humanism that impressed me the most," said Carol Terregino, senior associate dean for education and academic affairs at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Citing Sulzbach's commitment to hard work and excellence, holding "a real job" as manager in a restaurant chain, working as a nanny and a being a member of the Princeton rowing team, Terregino added, "I believe it is those experiences that will shape her as a physician leader with an exceptional work ethic and dedication to the craft."

Zhao, who hails from Marlboro, N.J., and is attending Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Yale University and worked as an investment analyst researching financial and health care technology companies for a private equity firm.

I know that with the resources at Rutgers and the diverse patient population in Newark, I can grow into the kind of physician that I want to be while being able to stay connected with my family and friends back at home.

Angela Zhao

Chancellor's Scholar

Volunteering as an emergency medical technician at Yale during the COVID-19 pandemic proved a turning point for Zhao, who realized medicine brings together what she values most in a career: human connection, scientific inquiry, advocacy and service.

"At a young age, I knew that I loved science, and I could see myself being a physician, but I didn't think it was a realistic path for me," said Zhao, adding that her time at Biotechnology High School in Freehold Township, N.J. bolstered her appreciation for the sciences, especially biology.

As for studying economics at Yale, the 26-year-old said, "I was drawn to it because it's very versatile and has real-world impact. I liked that it let me use quantitative tools to think about complex societal issues, like wealth distribution and health care access."

Aside from location, Zhao said she applied to Rutgers in particular for "its commitment to health equity and creating humanistic physicians," adding that clinical training at the school "will challenge me to think more deeply about health disparities and how to advocate for patients. I know that with the resources at Rutgers and the diverse patient population in Newark, I can grow into the kind of physician that I want to be while being able to stay connected with my family and friends back at home."

"Angela's maturity, resilience and vision to bridge medicine, research and equity make her a standout scholar," said Mercedes Rivero, assistant dean of admissions at New Jersey Medical School. "Her journey reflects a purposeful shift from health care investment analysis to medicine, motivated by a desire to directly address health disparities."

Angela Zhao stands before an audience during her Juilliard pre-college graduation recital.

In addition to being a Chancellor's Scholar, Zhao was named a Humanism Fellowfor The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey Center for Humanism and Medicine, established at New Jersey Medical School in 2004. Fellows engage in a community-service project, attend monthly meetings focused on creating a community of practice to reflect on the values of humanism in medicine and develop a presentation to students and faculty mentors exploring a topic related to humanism in medicine.

While Zhao is trying to keep an open mind about a medical focus, "I'm excited to build meaningful, long-term relationships with my patients," she said, adding she finds herself drawn to pediatrics and internal medicine and hopes to have a career that includes patient care, research and administration.

"I really value human connection, and I hope to find ways to use the humanities, particularly music, to uplift patients," said Zhao, a pianist who took part in the Juilliard School's precollege music program, was a member of the Yale Undergraduate Piano Collective and sang with the Yale Glee Club.

"I'm very excited to join the Vocal Chords," an a cappella groupat New Jersey Medical School, she added.

"Being a Chancellor's Scholar is an incredible honor and deeply humbling," Zhao said. "As a career-changer and the first in my family to enter health care, this scholarship is also a reminder to myself to keep dreaming big and persevering toward my goal of improving patients' lives."