Unlike most children, Quetzalli Johnson wasn’t afraid of visiting the dentist. 

When she was growing up, her mother always made dentist trips a positive experience for Johnson and her brothers by offering them rewards for doing well in the office. Those positive childhood moments led Johnson to dream of working in health care and dentistry. 

Today, Johnson is one step closer to fulfilling that dream.

“I’m so excited. I feel like the finish line is right there,” said Johnson, a fifth-year general biology major and pre-dental student who's graduating from Cal State San Marcos this month. “I’m really excited to navigate the world outside of school, spend time with my family and husband, and start working as a dental assistant during my gap year.”

Along with a gap year to gain experience, Johnson plans to move to North Carolina with her family. She hopes to attend her top choice, the University of North Carolina, to study dentistry and become a dentist.

Johnson was an active member of the Pre-Dental Society at CSUSM. She joined the campus organization in spring 2024 and became the social media officer during the 2024-25 academic year. Her efforts in the club helped her achieve the role of senior president this fall.

“Being a part of that club taught me a lot about confidence and allowed me to be really comfortable speaking with other students,” she said. “I loved the leadership roles because of what they brought out in myself, and I loved being able to help and support others.”

Not only did the Pre-Dental Society give Johnson a place where she belonged, but it also helped her understand the path to dental school.

As club president, Johnson has tried to make clear to newer members that they should take their educational journey at their own pace. She often talks about her experience as a fifth-year student and how that extra time has benefited her academically.

“I feel like a lot of members think they need to graduate within a certain time, because in high school that’s what we’re told,” Johnson said. “We’re told, ‘You have to graduate college in four years,’ and sometimes that can be a little discouraging. I think it's nice for the members to hear that I’m a fifth-year and see that I’m not defeated by it. I’m enjoying the ride.”

Johnson also works hard to make the Pre-Dental Society a welcoming place for students. She encourages members to ask questions, informs them about volunteer opportunities and helps them connect with academic resources and see what lies ahead on the path to dentistry.

Her passion for creating and fostering a loving environment is evident to her peers and professors. James Kezos, an assistant professor of biology, has worked closely with Johnson in the classroom and lab.

“She is a very determined, hard-working and compassionate individual who has set high goals for herself,” Kezos said. “She is willing to learn and help with any task, showing exceptional levels of initiative and dedication. She excels at whatever responsibilities she undertakes, including her classwork, her research and her extracurriculars such as being president of the Pre-Dental Society.”

In the Fly Lab with Kezos, Johnson began studying the physiological adaptations to chronic high-sugar diets in Drosophila (fruit flies) and how these diets affect their heart health and lifespan. Johnson explained that because Drosophila share many genetic traits with humans and have such a short lifespan, they’re ideal subjects for biological study.

Alongside the study on high-sugar diets, Johnson has analyzed the Hedgehog signaling pathway in Drosophila heart function.

“If we’re discovering new things that could help someone else’s future research, if it could be applied in any way and help the human population, I think that’s really neat,” Johnson said. “I love that we’re taking steps forward to potentially help people. That’s what I want to do in my future, help people.”

As the Fly Lab’s sole data analyst, Johnson works closely with the flies’ heartbeats – noting that, in some cases, the flies have a fluorescent heart – by watching videos and turning that information into data through programs like Microsoft Excel.

“The biggest impact she has made has been her efforts in implementing a large statistical code to process and analyze our fly cardiac videos,” Kezos said. “Without her help, we would not be able to analyze any of our data, and probably would be struggling with fixing the code.”

Creating the code was a challenge that Johnson felt confident in tackling. She had data analysis experience from EOS Fitness, where she worked as a data coordinator. She also took a class on biological data analysis, so when Kezos mentioned that he had code that needed fixing, Johnson was quick to take on the project.

It took Johnson roughly two months to go through the nearly 3,000 lines of code. She watched thousands of videos, quantified the data and made it possible for the lab to analyze all of their hard work. Johnson referred to the project as the ultimate puzzle.

“It was so frustrating but also really rewarding,” she said. “That went beyond what I thought I was capable of, and just having the belief in myself that I could achieve that, it was such a rewarding feeling. It also strengthened my confidence in myself; I am capable of doing something like that. That was super empowering for me.”

Johnson has used these new skills to teach other students in the lab how to use the code to analyze data.

“Quetzalli has been an integral member of my lab, and has been a tremendous help in establishing the data analysis process,” Kezos said. “Without her efforts, initiative and care, we would not be as productive as we are today.”

When looking back on her time at CSUSM, Johnson said her biggest advice for future students is to get involved.

Transferring from Palomar College, Johnson thought she could handle everything on her own at CSUSM. She wasn’t thinking about joining clubs or finding community. But as she delved deeper into her coursework, she realized there was much she still needed to learn about the path ahead.

She first heard about the Pre-Dental Society in a Biology 101 class, and the timing felt right. She decided to go to a meeting, and the organization ended up giving her the guidance and support she hadn’t realized she was missing.

“I attended a meeting and thought, ‘This is so helpful,’ ” Johnson said. “Then, while I was at these meetings, I saw this community and the relationship between officers and members. I was like, ‘I really want to be a part of this,’ which was new for me. I had never felt like that before.”

Being a member of the Pre-Dental Society and volunteering with the Fly Lab helped Johnson grow as a student. The knowledge she gained from both, combined with community support, helped her see how she could give back.

Johnson’s newfound desire to get involved led her to participate in events such as the Student Poster Showcase. She presented a poster on the physiological responses to chronic high-sugar diets in Drosophila, the research she had done in the Fly Lab.

“Get involved, because it doesn’t hurt; it only helps. You build such a great community and you learn so much. You’re able to meet like-minded people and grow as a human being,” she said. “Enjoy the ride. Enjoy where you’re at in the moment. Enjoy the people around you. Slow down and just enjoy where you’re at.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314