The Premed Perspectives

Dr.Lydia Wassink,PhD - Pursuing a PhD S8.E10

Amanda Ziminski S8.E8 

Dr.Noam Raiter S8.E8 

In this week’s episode, Lasya sits down with Divya Gumudavelly, MPH Candidate at Yale University. Divya is a budding public health professional passionate about improving global maternal and child health and mental health outcomes — currently staying in Uganda.

She began undergrad with the goal of matriculating to medical school upon graduation; however, she started participating in global health related electives and organizations, which sparked her passion for public health. Although Divya began studying for the MCAT and completed all of the pre-medical requisites, she made the decision to consider starting medical school later in her life after working in the public health field.

In this episode she explains how she knew this was the right decision for her, how she convinced her loved ones that this was the best decision for her, why she’s passionate about public health, and how she is nurturing her passion. Overall, this episode is great for anyone considering health-related paths other than medical school!

Dr. Manna S8.E4

This week, Lasya sits down with Michael Minh Le, an MD Candidate at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He is very knowledgeable about the pre-medical path and mentors many students. Make sure you check out more of his content on Tik Tok @michaelminhle.

Through this episode, he shares the 6 components that make a competitive medical school applicants. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity working through pre-medical years through pursuing interests you truly enjoy and how to find such activities. Furthermore, he explains how exactly pre-meds can make a plan and self-assess to make sure they don’t fall behind on their path to medical school. Sometimes pre-meds do fall behind, but Micheal describes how to self-assess and compensate for any gaps on your application. Overall, this episode can be informative to anyone interested in pursuing medical school!

This week Ambika sits down with Dr. Amalfitano DO, PhD, who serves as the Interim Dean at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is also the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation endowed professor of pediatrics, microbiology and molecular genetics and director of the MSU Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. Having earned all of his degrees at MSU, Dr.Amalfitano is an immense inspiration to Spartans - Go Green! 

Dr. Amalfitano is a proud DO and explains what the osteopathic philosophy entails. He elaborates on "the art of medicine" and osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) in which DOs receive 200 hours of training -- a key difference between allopathic and osteopathic medical education. 

Dr.Amalfitano also describes how MSUCOM is shaping the future of osteopathic medicine through world-class, student-centered medical education and research. SpartanDOs purposely work to build thriving communities, where all can grow and learn together. Therefore, he advises premedical DO aspirants to immerse themselves in their communities to serve and learn from those different from themselves. 

This episode can provide insight to anyone interested in healthcare, as osteopathic medicine is the fastest growing medical profession in the United States. If you're applying to osteopathic medical schools this application cycle, this episode can better inform your decision and prepare you to answer one of the most important questions you'll be asked during the application process: "Why osteopathic medicine?". 

For more information on osteopathic medicine, check out Dr.Amalfitano's article. 

To open season 8, Viji sits down with Kelly Cheung, @kellytakesmedicine , a new internal medicine resident. Kelly has always had an interest in primary care and geriatrics, and she explains how she developed this interest and the importance of primary care in this episode. Kelly also shares her journey to medicine as a first generation college graduate and physician. She reveals that she was afraid to pursue medicine due to a lack of resources or mentors and that she suffered from imposter syndrome. Kelly discusses how she considered both pharmacy school and medical school but decided on pursuing medicine after taking a couple of gap years. 

Kelly also discusses the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship in this episode. She discusses the benefits she received from this scholarship and some of the eligibility requirements. The deadline has passed for this year, but definitely take a listen if this is something you would be interested in for next year. 

Lastly, Kelly discusses her residency application process. When this podcast was recorded, Kelly was still in the interviewing process for residency, but now she has successfully matched and started an internal medicine residency! A huge congratulations to her for starting this major milestone! A lot of great information about being a first-get physician, pursuing primary care, and the residency app process in this episode so be sure to give it a listen. 

This week, to wrap up season 7, Lasya chats with Deepti, an incoming M1, from the University of Michigan. At the time of the podcast, she had just submitted her application, and she breaks down each of her 4 years in undergrad. She shares how at first she struggled to balance her clinical activities and school but later found methods that worked for her and ended up doing very well. Not only does she discuss academics, but she also talks about the variety of experiences she took part in such as study abroad. Looking back on her journey, Deepti shares what she is glad she did but also what she wishes she did differently. Ultimately, her journey resulted in multiple acceptances! 

The information in this podcast could be especially helpful to incoming undergraduate freshmen who hope to be premed, as it lays out what to expect during every year of your premed experience. It can also be especially helpful for premeds who are unsure about whether they want to take a gap year or not, as Deepti talks about why she chose to take a gap year before applying.  

If you are interested in the MCAT retake course that was mentioned during the episode, make sure you visit /www.pillartestprep.com/the-retaker-course and use discount code "PREMEDPERSPECTIVE" for 20% off of your purchase

This week Lasya sits down with Lara Hakim, medical student at MSU’s College of Human Medicine. Lara applied to medical school the first time, but was not admitted. She explains what she did after that point to make sure she could gain admission as a re-applicant!

Lara took part in Wayne State’s special masters program and applied to medical school after completing it, and she had great success! She explains why she chose this program, what she did during her gap year, and how she believes that stepping away from the traditional pre-med “checklist” helped her get in to medical school.

If you are interested in the MCAT retake course that was mentioned during the episode, make sure you visit /www.pillartestprep.com/the-retaker-course and use discount code "PREMEDPERSPECTIVE" for 20% off of your purchase