Jamie Lauren Zimmerman is a current senior at UCLA, majoring in Anthropology and pre-medicine.  Her goal is to serve as a physician and public health official in developing countries, while continuing to utilize the medium of film as a catalyst for social change.

During the summer after her freshman year, Jamie spent two months living and working in the Amazon Basin of Peru, where she collaborated with a health education non-profit organization.  It was that experience that helped her discover her passion for international work, and sparked her interest in pursuing a medical education. Last December, she received early acceptance to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she plans to begin her medical studies upon graduating from UCLA in June.

During Summer 2007, Jamie spent several months in a refugee camp in Zambia, where she collaborated with an operating partner of the United Nations to create a documentary film about refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Jamie later served on the U.S. Campaign for Burma’s delegation to the Thailand-Myanmar border and collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winner and Professor Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel) to develop a course entitled, “Multimedia Exploration of the World’s Refugees." 

Jamie will graduate Magna Cum Laude from UCLA, where she has received the Charles E. and Sue K. Young Award, the UCLA Distinguished Senior Award, and was elected into Phi Beta Kappa.

Before entering college, Jamie worked as an actress, performing on such shows at 7th Heaven, Family Law, The Practice, and Boston Public.  Nominated twice for Young Artist Awards, Jamie served as spokesperson for Recording Artists, Actors, and Athletes Against Drunk Driving and was the first teenage producer for Voices in Harmony, an organization that utilizes the arts to empower at-risk youth to share their stories.