AJ originally graduated from UMass Amherst in 2014 with a B.S. in Sport Management. He enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College in 2017, when he realized his dream of becoming a veterinarian. At Pierce College AJ was awarded Dean’s Honor List, President’s Honors, and the Organic Biochemistry Award for his display of excellence in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is currently a veterinary student at UC Davis in the Class of 2024.
AJ has an interest in community medicine and wildlife rehabilitation. He has previously volunteered at the California Wildlife Center, the Costa Rica Rescue Center, and the California Raptor Center. He also worked as a veterinary technician in general practice at a Los Angeles clinic and spent last summer working at an emergency and critical care hospital in Sacramento. Additionally, he has experience working with large animals as a veterinary assistant in the livestock barn at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
Beyond the classroom, AJ has a strong interest in improving the veterinary profession through diversity, equity, and inclusion. At UC Davis, he is the President of the student organization Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment (VOICE) and serves as a student ambassador for the veterinary school. In June, he was awarded the “One Health Integration in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” grant for a research project that strives to identify and address inequities within Native American communities regarding emergency and disaster preparedness.
AJ’s interests and hobbies include hiking, camping, yoga, rock climbing, gardening, and playing sports. He loves going to the park with his dog Banjo and cuddling with his two bunnies Moose and Summer. Because of his unique and non-traditional path to veterinary school, AJ enjoys mentoring students on their own veterinary journey! He is eager to help students with all aspects of the veterinary admissions process.
Having found his passion for medicine and biology early, he quickly got involved in a committed research position during his first week of undergrad at UC Davis where he soon become the Lead Undergraduate Researcher and supervised a group of other undergrads while studying the genetic associations of meiotic recombination in the murine model. He then progressed to a large multidisciplinary ocular research lab where he gained significant experience and connections. He also joined the Phi Delta Epsilon Pre-Medical Fraternity where a few years later he became the President of the chapter. The professional network he maintained and expanded upon during this time in the organization helped him get involved in various community service activities such as his time volunteering at several underserved clinics in the Sacramento area. During the latter half of his time at UC Davis, he also worked as a scribe for a vitreoretinal surgeon and as a Student Brand Ambassador for Kaplan Test Prep.
During his time at UC Davis, Abhishek also engaged in leadership through chair positions of the Student Health Insurance Plan Committee and Health Fee Oversight Committee, in which he guided decision making for the student body's needs regarding healthcare and insurance provided by the school. Upon graduating early in three instead of four years, he joined a health tech startup where he worked as an Operations Associate full time. To maintain his clinical experience and be more hands-on, he also worked part time as an Eye Recovery Technician where he independently surgically recovered corneas from organ donors in hospitals across the Bay Area. Before applying to medical school, he also worked as a Research Associate at biotech startups.
During his recently completed first year of medical school at Loyola, Abhishek has gotten heavily involved in many research projects in the fields of orthopaedic surgery and ophthalmology. He has also partaken in volunteering at ocular clinics for the undeserved and COVID-19 vaccination clinics. He has been awarded both the Summer Training in Approaches to Research scholarship for as well as the Zale Scholarship for his work in research and passion for ophthalmology.
Adam holds a BA in Politics (Pomona College) and is a first-year student at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. He is heavily involved in the American Student Dental Association and the Harvard dental admission process. He is interested in leveraging his ASDA connections and a non-traditional path to dentistry to help pre-dents at Inspira. Besides Harvard, Adam was also accepted by UPenn, UCLA, and UCSF with merit scholarships.
During his gap year, Adam worked full-time as a Jesse M. Unruh Fellow for the California State Assembly to analyze over 50 pieces of legislation that would expand healthcare access, provide COVID-19 relief, and broaden scopes of practice for medical and dental professionals in California. Currently, he is the legislative liaison and advocacy chair for ASDA at the Harvard Chapter and in District 1 (New England).
Adam is interested in working with all kinds of pre-dents, especially non-STEM majors with unique paths to dentistry and STEM majors struggling to find ways to distinguish themselves. With his background in research/analysis and his connections via ASDA, Adam loves to develop strategies to help pre-dents identify their target schools and stand out through their application essays and interviews. When Adam isn’t working, he enjoys traveling, watching hockey, and reading public policy and healthcare books.
Aditya Khurana is a current radiology resident at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He attended Duke University for undergrad, majoring in neuroscience, and attended the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine for medical school. He has had significant research experience, ranging from computational neuroscience in undergrad to artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and health services research in medical school. He has published extensively on these topics and continues to be academically productive in these areas. He has informally mentored several medical school classmates through the admissions process and residency consulting.
Alex Raghunandan is a current first-year medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. He is originally from New Jersey but moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA before transferring to Duke University as a sophomore. He graduated with a bachelor's in science in Neuroscience and French in 2021. The following fall, he began medical school at Cornell and is interested in obstetrics, gynecology, and infertility medicine. He has been mentoring students since he started attending Duke in 2018 to help them attend their dream university.
Alexander Salinas is currently a critical care nurse and a past adjunct faculty in different schools of nursing. He holds a master's degree in nursing education from Penn State University and BSN in the Honors College at University at Buffalo. He is certified in critical care and holistic nursing. He is also currently a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and was one of the student presidents at his nursing school before graduating. He was awarded the SUNY Chancellor award during his undergraduate career.
As a nurse, Alex has experience in Medical, Surgical, and Coronary Intensive Care units. He has worked in magnet hospitals and worked in various settings in different states such as Nevada, New York, and California. Alex has taught nursing education classes both to new graduates and new onboarding staff; he hopes to bring that same expertise to Inspira. He has held leadership positions in the Men in Nursing New York Committee and participated in their mentorship program. He has traveled to Haiti and Guatemala for volunteer nursing. He has coauthored at nurse.com and has published articles relating to nursing care and education. He also holds yoga teacher training certification from the Baptiste Institute.
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Amam graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a BS in Human Physiology. He is currently in his first year of Dental School at The University of Iowa’s College of Dentistry. Amam has a diverse background when it comes to involvement in areas such as research, internships, working background, and community service. Amam took a gap year after graduating from undergrad to work as a dental assistant and manage his family’s convenience store.
Amam was born in Barcelona, Spain, and immigrated to the U.S. in 2001 at the age of 4. He comes from a Pakistani family and has lived his life moving throughout the Midwest. Amam spent most of his life growing up in the rural community of Keokuk, Iowa.
Amam participated in MHIRT (Minority Health-Disparities International Research Training) Internship in the summer of 2018 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Amam’s research project consisted of recording the association between tobacco usage and dental malocclusion in the patient population.
Amam also participated in SHPEP (Summer Health Professions Education Program) at the University of Iowa in 2017. In SHPEP, Amam gained clinical exposure and learned about the social determinants of health with a heightened emphasis on collaboration across health professions. Amam has been passionate about helping underrepresented students find their way to their respective programs. He has mentored students in orientation-based programs and held executive office positions in organizations that help students receive proper information on applying to medical, dental, and pharmacy programs.
In dental school, Amam held the position of president for his class and currently holds the position of communications chair in the Orthodontics Club at the College of Dentistry. Amam is currently starting his research project in craniofacial microsomia and cleft lip and palate genetics.
Andrew is a fourth-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai pursuing a career in Anesthesiology. He has a startup valued at $12 million which focuses on providing affordable vision care across the US, has >20 peer-reviewed publications, and is looking to continue to help others in their medical careers. Originally from the greater Pittsburgh area, Andrew went to public school all his life and attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in computational chemistry with a focus in biology. He conducted research through the Department of Biomedical Informatics, where he published a paper in Scientific Reports on long non-coding RNA SNHG7 and its impact on breast cancer. He graduated in three years from Pitt and went straight to medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During his first year there, he joined multiple research labs focusing on large-data analysis and machine learning. He also co-founded Retina Technologies Inc., a company aimed to disrupt vision care by leveraging virtual reality, retinal imaging, and machine learning onto a portable platform to provide affordable, accessible, and accurate vision screening across the country. He served as the CTO of the company, spearheading four clinical trials, submitting three provisional patents and one non-provisional PCT patent, and built both the hardware and software from the ground up. He has continued his involvement in both his research and the company throughout all four years of medical school and is applying to residency programs for Anesthesiology.
After finishing his undergraduate degree in computer science at UNC-Chapel Hill (Go Heels!), Anil attended the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Following dental school, he completed General Practice and Oral Medicine residencies. Afterward, he practiced in hospital, community health, and academic settings. Anil has served on the admissions committees at both Harvard and his residency program.
In addition to my dental training, Anil also completed a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has technical certifications in Data Science and Business Analytics. In 2020, he transitioned out of teaching and patient care to pursue a career in Healthcare Analytics.
Anil feels that his experience applying to dental school was quite stressful and lonely, as he did not have any support in the form of a pre-dental advisor for guidance and advice. He looks forward to serving as a mentor, so students do not have to feel isolated during the application journey.
Anush Swaminathan is an MD-PhD at the Yale School of Medicine. Anush is originally from New Jersey and graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with honors in both Biology and Philosophy. At BU, Anush was a Trustee Scholar covering his full cost of attendance for all four years and received the Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence, Biology Department Excellence in Scholarship prize, and the Philosophy department Robert S. Cohen award for interdisciplinary studies. Anush was selected for prestigious science research fellowships at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and the EPFL in Switzerland and conducted research at Harvard Medical School in biochemistry for four years (the last three years of undergrad and his gap year). Anush also worked in ethics and the philosophy of science, with his philosophy thesis work being on the role of animal models in helping basic science transition into translational research.
Anush was accepted into many top MD-PhD programs, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Cornell Tri-I, NYU, UChicago, and UMichigan, choosing Yale for the Yale System, strength in immunology and genetics research, and amazing culture. Anush serves on the YNHH Ethics Committee and was the leader of the Bioethics Interest Group and the Internal Medicine Interest Group. Currently having completed his first two years of medical school and in his first year of a Ph.D. in Genetics, Anush has an intimate understanding of both the medical school and graduate school admissions process, having helped organize MD and MD-PhD interviews for applicants. Anush has also independently mentored dozens of applicants for MD, MD-PhD, DO, and BS/MD programs. His mentees were accepted to their top-choice programs across the country, including Harvard, Columbia, WashU UTSW, Stanford, and UWashington.
Anush’s strengths are his ability to work closely with mentees, helping strengthen their voice to tell their own unique stories. As a first-generation medical student, Anush is aware of the pitfalls in the medical school admissions process and is committed to helping students personalize strong applications. At Inspira, Anush has extensive experience with school selection, primary and secondary applications, essay editing, and mock interviewing. Anush is excited to further his passion for mentee advocacy by supporting the goals and vision of his clients and helping them fashion the strongest application possible.
Dr. Ashley Johnson graduated in 2007 with her BSN from The University of Tennessee at Martin, followed by her Masters in Nursing in 2013. She completed her PhD in Nursing from the University of Kansas in 2020. Throughout her nursing career she worked in the Neonatal ICU, Long-Term Care, and Dialysis. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International and has her Certified Nurse Educator Clinical Leader certification. In 2021, she was selected in the inaugural cohort for Tennessee's 40 under 40 Rising Leaders Program. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Bethel University in McKenzie, TN. She is the Remediator Coordinator and RN-BSN Coordinator for this program. Ashley enjoys working one-on-one with students on-ground and on-line to help them achieve their goals.
Ashwin is an incoming M1 at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He also had acceptances at Northwestern University School of Medicine and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, waitlists at Washington University in St. Louis, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania, and interviews at Harvard, Yale, NYU, University of Chicago, Mount Sinai, and more. He is originally from Springfield, IL, and also attended Vanderbilt University for his undergraduate studies. He majored in Medicine, Health, and Society and minored in Business, and earned a 522 on his MCAT, which places him in the 99th percentile of test-takers. He finished his studies in 3.5 years with a 4.0 GPA with summa cum laude honors and was on the Dean's List every semester. He has experience as an MCAT tutor with Kaplan and worked at Varsity Tutors to help students aged from middle school to graduate students in STEM subjects. As a student at Vanderbilt, he was the president of multiple service organizations to help communities in Nashville and abroad. Additionally, he had vast research experience, including five first-author publications, seven total publications, a CDC internship, and awards from the American Society of Hematology, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and Vanderbilt University.
Audra is a GMAT/GRE tutor based in Brooklyn, New York. With over six years of experience teaching hundreds of students both one-on-one and in the classroom, Audra helps business school and graduate school applicants maximize their testing performance with personalized instruction focused on their areas of need. Audra has achieved a 98th-percentile score of 750 on the GMAT and a 335/340 on the GRE. She loves sharing her knowledge and helping each client reach their potential!
Audra received her B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2013. The degree is equivalent to a double major in Philosophy and the History of Mathematics and Science and a double minor in Classics and Comparative Literature. She is currently attending the online Master of Computer and Information Technology program at the University of Pennsylvania. Audra enjoys reading and performing with the sketch comedy group Punchline Loading... in New York City in her free time.
Breanna graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in Global Disease Biology. She is currently at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she plans on tracking small animals.
During her undergraduate career, she was involved in a research lab involving horse genetics. She also was the President of The Wildlife Society, along with being the Founder and President of 27 Heartbeats at UC Davis. She traveled to Thailand and Australia to gain veterinary experience at wildlife sanctuaries and shelters. 27 Heartbeats was founded in order to provide veterinary supplies to animals at these sanctuaries around the world through Loop Abroad. She also worked as a veterinary assistant at a small animal clinic throughout undergrad, along with volunteering at a cat sanctuary. Furthermore, she worked as a tutor at UC Davis in both Chemistry and Animal Biochemistry.
Currently, Breanna is the President of the Class of 2024 at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the new President of the Specialties Club, which helps students gain more experience in various veterinary specialties. To continue, Breanna is a student ambassador for Royal Canin, a science-based pet food company. She also previously served as an Inventory Coordinator for Knights Landing One Health Clinic, a student-run service that provides veterinary care for lower income communities.
Breanna is particularly interested in specializing in dermatology after veterinary school through a residency program. After being a tutor in undergrad, she realized how much she loved helping others reach their goals. She knows how stressful the application process for veterinary school is and hopes to ease the minds of applicants by being a support system for them. Breanna is super excited to work with the next generation of amazing veterinarians!
Bretton is an MCAT expert who has helped over 500 students achieve their MCAT goals and has dedicated thousands of hours to understanding, mastering, and simplifying the test. He has received training from and provided MCAT expertise to the leading test-prep company, Kaplan. He has extensive practice providing online tutoring and curates a world-class experience for each student. Each lesson will be tailored to the individual's needs to make sure they reach their goals, he will respond to all communications within 24 hours (typically sooner), and stack the odds in your favor.
Bretton is based out of Minnesota, where he was educated on a full-ride scholarship at Concordia College in Minnesota. He pursues a triple science major in neuroscience, chemistry, and biology. He applies his multidisciplinary expertise to make difficult to understand MCAT topics into something easily understood. He has represented his college’s research output to the state of Minnesota and participated in Mayo Clinic’s exclusive Mayo Innovative Scholars Program on behalf of Concordia. Bretton currently works part-time in a research laboratory where he conducts groundbreaking cancer and neuroscience research. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry with an emphasis on neuroscience. Bretton’s passion for science and dedication to his students makes him an ideal MCAT tutor for students at all levels.
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Brian has had multiple experiences which have cultivated his passion for advising, mentoring, coaching, and encouraging students. He graduated from Louisiana State University, magna cum laude, with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. At LSU, Brian was a four-year letterman of the Men’s Basketball Team, receiving Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll awards all four years. He also received the prestigious LSU Athletic Department Wally Pontiff Award in 2002 and 2003, given to upperclassmen who maintain the highest GPA among all student-athletes. Being a basketball team member afforded him many opportunities to encourage and coach young basketball players in their athletic and academic journeys. It also taught him the importance of teamwork and persevering through failure and adversity.
Even while studying and training as a physician, Brian found ways to further his experience as a teacher, advisor, and mentor to students outside of medicine. After being accepted to medical school, Brian took advantage of a free semester after graduating from LSU by taking a position teaching math to students at The Dunham School, the school from which he graduated as valedictorian. This allowed him to continue cultivating his style as a teacher and mentor, learning that he had a heart for encouraging and motivating students, especially those dealing with difficult circumstances. Several years later, he also used his spare time to fill in as a teacher at another local high school, where he also was able to learn a great deal about advising students in the college admissions process. His mother was the college counselor at this school, and she passed on her wealth of knowledge about advising students in the application process from her 20 years of experience in the field!
Brian graduated from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans Medical School and went on to complete a residency in Internal Medicine at Earl K. Long hospital in Baton Rouge. As a resident and while working as a hospitalist, Brian always enjoyed teaching, encouraging, and giving advice to medical students and residents pertaining to their medical education journey. After several years working as a hospitalist, he founded his own independent medical consulting LLC.
Brian’s approach to mentoring, advising, and teaching focuses on listening, encouraging, showing compassion, and fostering an open and honest dialogue with his students. He firmly believes that each student has unique experiences and talents, which can be highlighted optimally to foster their best chance for success.
Britt is a current MSN student at Johns Hopkins University pursuing a career in public health nursing. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she went to the University of Washington, where she got an undergraduate degree in Medical Anthropology & Global Health while working within hospital systems across Seattle.
As a near graduate, Britt is a current academic tutor at Johns Hopkins, is involved with Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiatives, and works as a student nurse within the University of Maryland's Pediatric Emergency Department. Her academic interests span from public health to health policy to pediatric medicine. Having spent lots of time researching and applying to many nursing programs herself, Britt is excited to help fellow prospective nurses navigate the admissions process at Inspira!
Britt loves to be outside biking, hiking, or drinking coffee, preferably in the sun, in her free time.
Bryan Luu is a fourth-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine currently pursuing a residency in Internal Medicine. Bryan grew up in Fremont, California before moving to Austin, Texas in high school. He attended The University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with High Honors. At the University of Texas, Bryan was heavily involved in biomedical engineering research focused on improving delivery and bioavailability of chemotherapeutics through the development of nano-polymer systems. He was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society during his junior year. During his gap year before medical school, Bryan worked as an editor and content developer for ExamKrackers, serving as a major contributor to MCAT question banks and prep books, as well as providing high-quality one-on-one MCAT tutoring.In medical school, Bryan has been extensively involved with all facets of the medical school admission process. He has served as an admissions ambassador at Baylor, and has guided dozens of premedical students through the medical school admissions process as an officer of several student-led mentorship organizations. He has also continued his passion for research, with a specific interest in the development of novel machine learning models that can be applied to the field of medicine. In recognition of academic excellence in medical school, Bryan was elected to the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha honor society.
Having grown up in the rural Midwest, followed by attending the University of Iowa as an undergrad, Callie is now a student at Yale School of Medicine and will be pursuing a career in psychiatry. She has five years of tutoring experience and has been involved with curriculum reform and health justice advocacy. Her research interests include qualitative research on the lived experience of having mental illnesses and health disparities research. Along with Inspira, Callie is involved in Yale's first-generation low-income student group and the LGBTQ affinity group. She is passionate about helping prospective students with diverse backgrounds discuss these parts of their identities in their applications.
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Carmen studied at Yale School of Medicine. While pursuing human physiology and Hindi as a Boston University Kilachand Honors College student, Carmen pursued her passion for medicine and public health by working in underserved communities as an EMT, physical therapist assistant, and research assistant. These opportunities greatly influenced her to pursue her Masters of Public Health in biostatistics and epidemiology at Boston University, where she received training in SAS/RStudio coding as well as quantitative global health research.
During her medical school application cycle, Carmen ultimately was deciding between the University of Michigan’s full tuition Dean Scholarship, Baylor, Boston University, and Yale, finally choosing Yale for the research opportunities, Yale System, and desire to stay near family and friends. As the former premed liaison for the Yale Student National Medical Association/Latino Medical Student Association, Carmen has extensive mentoring experience through Yale’s Program to Advance Training in Health & Sciences (PATHS), where she helped organize the framework for the first PATHS cohort to receive mentorship from Yale medical students.
As Inspira, she has mentored dozens of premedical students, helping students obtain interviews and acceptances to medical schools such as Johns Hopkins, NYU, Yale, UTSW, University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago, Brown, Dartmouth, Boston University, and more. As a seasoned mentor, Carmen brings her experience with AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS applications and early assurance medical school programs to Inspira. Carmen’s strengths include helping students convey their unique strengths and narratives as well as helping students formulate a holistic, insightful application.
Catarina graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Davis, with a B.S. in Animal Science and a minor in Italian in 2020. She is currently finishing her first year at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she plans on tracking small animals. During her undergraduate career, she was involved in two research labs where she worked on correlating CRISPR knockout mouse model phenotypes to human-associated diseases.
During this project, Catarina presented her research at an undergraduate research conference and completed a manuscript. She also performed research on dairy cattle to understand how certain feed additives can mitigate greenhouse gasses produced by dairy cattle. Along with her research experience, she was heavily involved with a student-run veterinary clinic that provided free service for the pets of the homeless and co-founded a club with friends that served to collect veterinary medical supplies and then donate them to underprivileged clinics abroad. Moreover, she earned more veterinary experience as a technician at a specialty hospital over the summers and got exposure to wildlife veterinary care in Australia during a summer internship.
Currently, Catarina is the president of the Mercer Veterinary Clinic for Pets of the Homeless, which she was a part of during her undergrad. She is also the vice president of the Student American Veterinary Medicine Association for her veterinary school. This summer, she will be conducting orthopedic research on a specific breed of dog that suffers from a disorder called chondrodystrophy by analyzing their vertebrae geometry and disc mineralization. Catarina is a recipient of the Students Training in Advanced Research (STAR) award, a program for veterinary students to receive grants to conduct their own research project and become more involved in the research aspect of veterinary medicine.
She is particularly interested in pursuing a specialty in small animal orthopedic surgery. Throughout her undergraduate career, she was a tutor and mentor within the Italian department at her university and a mentor for younger students pursuing veterinary medicine. She is very passionate about helping the incoming generation of vet-med doctors and sharing her knowledge of the process. Having recently gone through the application process herself, she is dedicated to aiding others in navigating the application process. Catarina is eager to work with students and is looking forward to it!
Celeste graduated cum laude from Carleton College (Northfield, MN) with a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Biochemistry in 2020. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted research on hormonal inputs on bull snake fertility at Carleton, received the Kolenkow-Reitz Fellowship to tide-pool research at UC Irvine, served as the captain of Carleton's NCAA DIII volleyball team, and founded the school's first Pre-Veterinary Club.
During the summers, Celeste volunteered at a small animal clinic, equine rescue, and wildlife rehabilitation center to acquire a well-rounded experience in veterinary medicine. In addition, her job at Carleton's primate psychology lab exposed her to laboratory medicine. She is now in her 2nd year at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she plans on tracking small animal to specialize in small animal surgery post-grad.
Currently, Celeste serves as the Co-Director for the UC Davis Knights Landing One Health Clinic, whose mission is to bring the values of One Health to a disadvantaged community through free monthly veterinary clinics. In addition, she is on the board of the Canine Medicine Club, Behavior Medicine and Wellness Club and holds the role of IM Sports Chair for the class. She also serves as a Student Ambassador for the school through the Office of Outreach and Admissions.
This last summer, Celeste gained a wealth of knowledge as a veterinary technician at a specialty/emergency clinic in Orange County. When she is not studying for school, she hangs out with her cats and dog (Frank, Beans, and Milo), goes to the gym, lounges at the beach, or eats out at new restaurants with friends. Celeste remembers being confused and feeling alone during the process of applying to vet schools and wishing that a consulting program like Inspira existed.
Celeste loves helping people with a passion and can't wait to guide her clients through the process of achieving their dream of becoming a veterinarian.
Chiamaka (Amaka) Okorie is a first-generation fourth-year medical student at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. She immigrated from Nigeria to the United States for college and graduated Summa cum laude with a B.Sc. in Biology from SUNY Geneseo. There she was chosen to represent Geneseo’s graduating class as the commencement speaker. Amaka has remained curious through medical school, participating in both clinical and translational research with peer-reviewed publications. She is a member of the Dartmouth medical school admissions committee, participating in the interview and candidate selection process. Amaka loves to teach and has mentored numerous students through the college and medical school application process, specifically in her role in the McGill Scholars program at Dartmouth College, working with the students of color collective at the Lebanon High School and Inspira. She was the public relations officer for the Dartmouth Student National Medical Association chapter and currently serves as the Vice President for the dermatology interest group. She also enjoys traveling, dancing, and spending time with family and friends.
Christopher is a New York City native and a graduate of SUNY Binghamton, where he obtained a B.S. in Integrative Neuroscience with a minor in Health and Wellness Studies. As an active contributor to several Neuroscience and Nutrition-related research projects, he was invited to present his work at several academic conferences across the United States. Chris was also actively involved in campus life and held executive board positions for several social and academic student-run organizations.
Following graduation, Chris was hired as a research coordinator for Columbia University’s Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation. While working, he completed an M.S. in Health Systems Science from Binghamton University’s Watson School of Engineering. During this time, Chris applied to medical school and was accepted by several top programs, including the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
As a medical student, Chris continued his involvement with research and received several peer-reviewed publications. He served as a Chair of the Student High Value Care Committee, where he oversaw one of several student-run clinical quality improvement initiatives. He graduated from medical school in 2021 and remains at Mount Sinai as a resident within the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine.
Chris has a long history of working with students. During his junior year of college, he worked as a science tutor for Binghamton University’s athletic department. During his senior year, he took on the additional role of “At Risk Student Advisor.” Under this role, he was paired with student-athletes who were at risk of failing to meet the minimum academic standards required to compete. He met with these students regularly, holding sessions focused on topics such as time management, test-taking strategy, and career planning. Following his first year of medical school, Chris worked as an MCAT instructor for students enrolled in Mount Sinai’s Chapter of the North East Regional Alliance (NERA) for Medical Preparation. In addition to providing MCAT tutoring, he held regular one-on-one sessions focused on personal statement writing and application building. He has also held several work-shops focused on demystifying the medical school application process. Chris has a thorough understanding of the medical school admissions process and a passion for helping students reach their full potential.
Clara is a first-year dental student at the University of Michigan. Clara also obtained her Bachelor's degree at the University of Michigan, double majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology and French. She graduated Summa Cum Laude within three years, completing an Honors Thesis Research project with High Honors. During her undergraduate career, Clara was very involved with research and science outreach volunteering.
After obtaining her Bachelor's degree, Clara moved to Bethesda, Maryland, for a two-year fellowship pursuing translational research at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. During this time, she had success applying to dental schools: she received interviews at Michigan, UPenn, UCSF, McGill, Harvard, and UNC, leading to many acceptances and merit scholarship offers.
Outside of work and school, Clara is passionate about expanding access to dental care by getting involved with community dental clinics and patient education. Clara is also continuing her involvement in research by pursuing an independent project on oral squamous cell carcinoma.
As an independent tutor, Clara has helped many pre-dents build their applications, DAT test prep, and essay writing. Clara is excited to help future dental students achieve their dream of acceptance into their schools of choice at Inspira Advantage.
Costner McKenzie is currently a dermatology resident physician at NYU. Prior to residency, Costner graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology. While at Stanford, Costner was elected Class President, participated in several clinical trials, and counseled pre-med students as a Student Advisor.
After graduating from Stanford University, Costner took a gap year and worked at 23andMe as a Research Associate. During his gap year, Costner developed studies that empowered patients to better understand the impact of genetics on their disease.
Following his gap year, Costner enrolled at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. While in medical school, Costner actively participated in the Office of Admissions. He served as a Senior Student Interviewer, Ambassador for the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and member of the Queers & Allies Association. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics including health disparities, sun protection, and atopic dermatitis. Costner graduated at the top of his class and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honors Society and Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society.
Costner has years of experience assisting students as they seek scholarship opportunities and pursue careers in medicine and he hopes to take experience to Inspira. He is an enthusiastic member of the Inspira Team and looks forward to working with future mentees.
Dave is currently an Emergency Medicine physician in his second year of residency at the MGH/Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency. He is passionate about global health, healthcare technology, and entrepreneurship. He also enjoys a good breakfast burrito and getting outside as much as possible.
Before medical school, Dave co-founded an agricultural social enterprise in Uganda, which has improved the incomes of many small-holder farmers and strengthened food security in East Africa. He completed an MD-MBA at Dartmouth, where he was elected to the A.O.A. Honor Society and nominated by his peers to the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
During medical school, Dave evaluated the effectiveness of new vaccine introductions in Rwanda as a Healthcare Policy Fellow at the Rwandan Ministry of Health. He also received the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Award to develop an after-school mentoring program for at-risk youth. Drawn to the potential for technology to improve access to care and healthcare quality, Dave began consulting for digital health and tech-enabled healthcare delivery companies during his MBA and continues still today. He has also worked in healthcare venture capital and impact investing.
In residency, Dave has continued to pursue his interest in leveraging innovation to improve health. He teaches a workshop on healthcare start-up formation and early-stage fundraising, in addition to researching how machine learning can improve ED operations. He has kept his global health interests alive by serving on the organizing committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) International Emergency annual conference and conducting research to improve the integration of humanitarian disaster responses with longer-term development objectives.
Dave has served in both formal and informal advisory roles to medical school applicants, healthcare entrepreneurs, and residency applicants. He enjoys meeting new people bent on improving healthcare and helping them accomplish their goals.
David is currently a neurosurgeon in his seventh year of residency at Vanderbilt University. David graduated from UCLA as a Regent’s Scholar with a B.S. in Neuroscience. Subsequently, he attended the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine on a full-ride, merit-based scholarship. At The University of Chicago, David was awarded a two-year Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) research grant, and at Vanderbilt University, David was awarded a two-year NIH/F32 NRSA research grant to study the molecular biology of GBM, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer.
During his time at The Pritzker School of Medicine, David was heavily involved with the medical school admissions process. Throughout his first five years, he interviewed hundreds of medical school applicants, and in his final year of medical school, he was selected by the faculty to be one of three students to serve as a voting member on the admissions committee. During his time at Pritzker, David reviewed 500+ applications, interviewed over 750+ applicants, and worked closely with the Office of Admissions to coordinate interview days, organize revisit weekends, and fine-tune the application process.
Since graduating from The University of Chicago, David has mentored 60+ students throughout their medical school admissions process. His knowledge and experience go beyond simple application and essay completion. David helps applicants perfect their interview skills, create strategic medical school application lists, obtain the highest quality letters of recommendation, navigate waitlists and multiple admission offers, and helps applicants construct application stories that truly highlight their best and most appealing attributes. Simply put, David has the insider knowledge and mentoring experience to help applicants put together their best application package.
Deanna is currently a third-year general surgery resident at New York-Presbyterian Queens - Weill Cornell Medicine. She graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. After her undergraduate education, she attended medical school at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Carolinas Campus. Deanna is originally from the Northeast and made her way back by matching at NYPQ for general surgery residency. Within her residency program, she was nominated as a member of the Residency Council, responsible for acting as a liaison between the residents and administration to improve resident life. While in medical school, she acted as a mentor to first-year medical students. She would help them with time management, study tips, and tutoring in the anatomy lab. Before medical school, Deanna worked in a high school as a special education inclusion aid, helping students keep up in class by hosting small group teaching sessions and individualizing approaches to meet the students' personal needs for success. Deanna is approachable and ready to help you achieve your dreams.
Emily C. Keily, an admissions professional with over twenty-four years of experience in higher education, was the Director of Admissions, Public Health and Professional Degree Programs at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA, from 2009 to 2021. In this position, she participated in developing several new academic programs (Physician Asst. and DPT, for example) and the onboarding and implementation of new admissions processes and systems. In addition to the programs mentioned above, she administered admissions for Tufts Special Master’s Program (MBS) and worked with students applying to the Medical School’s MD/MBA and MD/MPH, among other programs.
Her work with MD applicants, in particular, made her keenly aware of the merit of such a program, that medical school can be a possibility with some added “elbow grease,” and that the entire medical school application process can be very nerve-racking for applicants. She’s excited to help! As a member of professional associations, including NAAHP, NEAAHP, AACRAO, and NAGAP, Emily presented on topics such as the admissions process and the admissions field at national and regional conferences. She is a graduate of Emmanuel College (MA) and Stonehill College (BA).
Emily Taylor is a Registered Nurse with over seven years of experience. She began her nursing journey in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Georgia Southern University (GSU). During her time at GSU, she most notably served as the President of the Student Nurses’ Association and earned the Em Olivia Bevis Spirit of Nursing Award upon graduation. She commissioned into the United States Army and started her nursing career as an active-duty Army Officer. Emily gained experience as a Medical-Surgical nurse, then in the Emergency Department, and is now well versed in both. During her time in the Army, she attended courses such as the Combat Casualty Care Course, where she earned her Trauma Nurse Core Course (TNCC) certification, and the Medical Effects of Ionized Radiation. After completing her time in the Army, her most recent experience in nursing was in a Pre-Operative setting. Emily began the pursuit of her Master of Science in Nursing Education through the University of Texas at Arlington and has completed half of the credits towards finishing this degree. Education is her passion, and she loves to help people work towards their goals and dreams! In her personal life, Emily is married to an active-duty Air Force pilot and has two sweet, rambunctious boys. They currently reside in San Antonio, Texas but have lived in many states throughout the southern United States. She is excited to be a part of the Inspira Advantage team and looks forward to helping you work towards achieving your goal of becoming a nurse!
Ezra is a third-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from New York City, he grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ, before attending the University of Pennsylvania as an undergrad. As an undergraduate student, he studied Economics with minors in Math and Chemistry. He graduated with honors, phi beta kappa, summa cum laude, and was awarded a prize for excellence in Economics. While an undergrad, he conducted research in healthcare economics, captained the campus Medical Emergency Response Team, taught CPR, and wrote for The Pennsylvania Punch Bowl humor magazine. He applied for medical school during his senior year and decided to stay at the University of Pennsylvania for medical school because of its academic excellence and broad array of research opportunities in healthcare services.
As a medical student, he has continued working in healthcare economics research, for which he was awarded the Leonard Davis Institute summer scholarship. He also worked with Puentes de Salud, a South Philadelphia health clinic for low-income Spanish-speaking patients. He is the current treasurer of the Plastic Surgery Interest Group and a former leader of the Maimonides Jewish student organization. This coming cycle, he plans to apply for a general surgery residency.
Besides medicine, Ezra enjoys reading, baking bread, quoting 2000s comedy movies, sailing, and traveling.
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Fatuma Rinderknecht is a current third-year medical student at UC San Francisco, hoping to go into the field of dermatology. She grew up in Davis, CA, and attended Davis Senior High School. She then attended Harvard University, where she graduated cum laude with a BA in Human Evolutionary Biology and a secondary in Global Health and Health Sciences. While at Harvard, Fatuma conducted atherosclerosis research at the Harvard School of Public Health and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. In addition to her research, she also spent her time in college volunteering in community clinics and working as a tutor and college counselor. After college, Fatuma worked as a clinical research coordinator at the UC San Francisco Department of Pediatric Cardiology and volunteered as an eligibility specialist at a free clinic. She then began medical school and concurrently pursued a Masters of Science, where she focused her thesis research on a dermatological condition known as Hidradenitis Suppurativa. While in medical school, Fatuma has started an organization to provide mentorship to pre-medical students from underrepresented backgrounds and has received a Deans' Award for Public Service. She is very passionate about helping students reach their full potential and achieve their dreams of becoming physicians and hopes to do the same at Inspira.
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Garrett was born in Torrance, CA, in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. He graduated summa cum laude from the College of Engineering at Cornell University with a B.S. in Biological Engineering and a concentration in Biomedical Engineering in three and a half years. He worked alongside Dr. Jan Lammerding, completing research focused on how lamin protein mutations affected cancer cell migration. He was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering National Honors society in his senior year.
After college, he took one gap year and worked as a tutor for an education company. He then attended medical school at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His interest in the interaction between medicine and technology led him to complete an MD/MS dual degree program in Biomedical Informatics, where his department awarded him "best thesis presentation." In medical school, he served as a mentor for underprivileged high school students interested in STEM. He also assisted and guided premedical students through a buddy program created by his school's Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association chapter. He has written multiple publications in the fields of predictive modeling and machine learning while honing his coding skills in medical school. He is currently applying for a radiology residency.
Garrett is an energetic and supportive mentor who eagerly looks to bring his abilities to Inspira. He is passionate about coaching and working with prospective medical school candidates to help them achieve their dreams.
Harrison graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA from the University of Alabama in the spring of 2021. During his four years in college, Harrison completed his undergraduate degree while simultaneously enrolled in an accelerated master’s program, earning both a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and a Master of Science in Biology in the same four-year stint.
Additionally, Harrison was awarded the University of Alabama’s Presidential Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship; the Grantland and Louise Scholarship for outstanding performance as a microbiology student; and full funding for his graduate research project. Throughout his time in college, Harrison was involved in and led various integrative research projects that investigated topics such as deforestation and the neuroendocrine stress response, sex change in hermaphroditic fish, and the interplay of disease and microbiome assemblage.
His participation in these projects earned him first, second, and third authorship in prep on three different publications. Outside of the classroom and laboratory, Harrison co-founded an organ donation awareness club, obtained an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) license while enrolled in classes, and tutored local students ages K-12. Throughout his preparation for the MCAT, Harrison focused on collecting a variety of high-value, low-cost resources and crafted a study plan that was unique to his needs.
After achieving his goal score in the 97th percentile on the MCAT, he decided to pursue tutoring as a professional endeavor. Harrison’s tutoring system centers around open communication with his students to work together to diagnose problems, curate detailed MCAT preparation plans, and compile pointed content reviews. He looks forward to working with you side-by-side as you achieve your goal score and gain admission into your dream medical school!
Howard obtained his Bachelor of Science in Biology, magna cum laude, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He then moved to the healthcare mecca of Boston, where he received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School (HMS). While at HMS, Howard was on the HMS admission committee, where he read applications, interviewed candidates, and attended meetings where candidates were selected. While in medical school, he also enrolled at Harvard Business School and graduated with an MD/MBA degree in 2019. Howard is currently at Stanford Hospital for his residency in Interventional Radiology. Howard has extensive experience working with both traditional and non-traditional candidates.
Jacob is an incoming first year MD/PhD student at the University of Connecticut interested in both the clinical and basic science neurosciences. He graduated with High Honors from Swarthmore College in 2020 where he studied neuroscience and political science. He conducted his senior thesis research on using memory reconsolidation to manipulate retention of fear memory. Jacob played cello and bassoon in numerous musical ensembles and also played on Swarthmore's Ultimate Frisbee team. In addition, he served as a sportscaster for Swarthmore College's athletics teams.
Jacob recently completed a two year research position at NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Neuroscience Institute where he worked in James Salzer's lab studying the role of Schwann cells and macrophages in animal models of myelin disorders. Jacob has extensive experience tutoring students and looks forward to helping prospective medical student's realize their maximum potential.
James Nguyen is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Physician Assistant Program. During his clinical year, his rotations were focused on working with underserved communities in the state of Hawaii. Prior to attending PA school, James worked for several years in Clinical Research at the University of Utah in the departments of Pediatric Rheumatology and Nephrology. As an undergraduate, James studied at the University of Utah. There he graduated with a BS in Biology with an emphasis and cellular and molecular biology with a minor in Chemistry. During his time there he was also a student officer of his Pre-PA organization.James is a first-generation college graduate who has also served for 4 years as an Air Force Aerospace Medical Service Technician. He gained his healthcare experience in this role working in a primary care setting, working with active duty members, their families, and retirees.
As an undergraduate, Jason was interested in becoming a health provider but was undecided about what field he would pursue until his sophomore year. He joined many clubs, was the president of his fraternity, a teaching assistant, and conducted research in bio-analytical and immunology labs. Jason also worked for the nonprofit Bridge to Health USA, where he helped underserved communities in Baltimore obtain better access to medical and dental care. Jason privately tutored undergraduate and high school students in the sciences in his free time.
He graduated with honors in biochemistry and a minor in biology from Trinity College. He matriculated into the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, where he is currently in his first year. At UConn, he continues to be an active participant in student life, serving on the Academic Integrity Board, conducting research and serving the people of Hartford through SNDA and ADEA.
Jeff Clark grew up in Ohio and graduated from Northwestern University magna cum laude with a degree in chemistry. Afterward, he remained in Chicago and is currently a fourth year medical student at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Jeff is also a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia.
Jeff’s passion for teaching and mentorship began as an undergraduate when he worked as a university-employed academic workshop leader in organic chemistry for three years. He has tutored hundreds of students in a variety of subjects throughout undergraduate and medical school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the MCAT and 260+ on the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, and is eager to help aspiring physicians to reach their full potential and to find enjoyment in the many fascinating aspects of medicine. Jeff and collaborators at Northwestern have published extensive first-of-its-kind research on the neurologic manifestations of COVID-19, and his research has been the subject of articles and interviews in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other major print and televised media outlets.
Jennifer is a resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University. Within her residency program she is involved in medical student education and community advocacy. She studied medicine at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine and graduated in 2022. Jennifer has mentored dozens of pre-medical, medical, and PA students on research, academic writing, networking, career planning, and medical school, PA school, and residency applications. Her clients have interviewed at programs across the country. She has experience with school selection, primary and secondary applications, essay editing, and mock interviewing.
Jennifer is originally from Ohio and graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with a degree in psychology and biology. After graduation, Jennifer served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay. After completing her service, Jennifer worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the Univ. of Washington on various projects in general surgery and vascular surgery.
Jennifer’s strengths are in service, advocacy, and education. During her time at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Jennifer was elected national president-elect of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), has published nine peer-reviewed publications on women’s health and medical education, and was interviewed by Reuters Health and ABC News for her curriculum on Human Trafficking for medical students. Between her third and fourth year of medical school, she completed a Master’s in Public Health in Population and Family Health at Columbia University.
As a non-traditional med student, Jennifer brings a wealth of life and work experience to her perspective as an admissions expert. As a first-generation medical student, she is also personally familiar with scholarship application processes. Jennifer is super excited to work with you on your application!
Jinnu studied at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. His alma mater was NYU, and he had an amazing term as president of the Pre-Dental Society. Jinnu finds inspiration in helping his peers, and other students realize their dreams of pursuing dentistry. During his college years, he juggled two part-time jobs, managed to excel academically, and contributed to a research team. Receiving a 24 on the DAT, he believes that everyone can achieve excellent performance on the DAT with professional guidance and resources, ensuring a greater chance to attend their dream dental school.
Jonathan is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he majored in Neuroscience. While an undergraduate, he did extensive basic and clinical research in the fields of Neurology, Orthopedics, and Anesthesiology. After graduating with Honors, he completed his MD at Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, where he performed research in Anesthesiology and participated in a healthcare administrative internship.
Jonathan also served as a member of the Admissions Committee while at the Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, both for the MD and BS/MD programs. He was intimately involved in the application process, where he interviewed numerous candidates and gained extensive training in application review. Jonathan is currently a resident in Anesthesiology at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell. He has published papers on infection prevention and quality improvement protocols during residency.
Jonathan has spent time in healthcare administration and intends to pursue this extensively after completing his residency, giving him a unique perspective of the high-level changes in healthcare applicable to incoming applicants. Jonathan has also founded his own start-up company dedicated to infection prevention in the healthcare setting. The company has filed patents, raised seven figures in investment dollars, and is bringing products to the market at large. He was the winner of Innovate LI, Innovator of the Year award for his work on the company.
Jordan Middleton is a rising D4 at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and plans to pursue oral and maxillofacial surgery residency upon graduation. He is a Fellow in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, where he specializes in leading programs designed to prepare undergrad students for the dental school application process. He also works closely with the Office of Admissions at HSDM - giving talks to colleges on behalf of HSDM, meeting with interviewees before and after their interview day, etc. One of the biggest projects he collaborated on, Bridge to Dental School, was awarded the 2021 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award by Insight into Diversity Magazine.
Jordan knows what it takes to gain admission to dental school. He received a full-tuition scholarship from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and numerous other scholarship offers from elite dental schools. Jordan hopes to take an active role in his client's paths to dental school and is determined to make "dream schools" a reality for each and every client he serves.
Joseph grew up in a small town in Kansas, where he was the only student from his graduating class of ~70 to “make the leap” to a legitimate, 4-year university.
Four years later: Joseph graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Neurobiology, addended with an awkwardly long list of honors. For instance, he received the annual award recognizing the biology department’s top student in his junior and senior years, per faculty consensus. In addition, he was also honored with more than a handful of semi-redundant accolades for “excellence in biomedical research.” Outside of the biology department, Joseph was named as 1 of 20 University Scholars in my graduating class of >5,000 students. Concurrently, he worked jobs as a teaching assistant in biochemistry and physiology courses and played an integral role in establishing a pre-med advisor faculty position within the university’s honors program. Joseph also published a first-author study elucidating the molecular mechanism underlying a phenomenon of paradoxically prolonged vasoconstriction largely responsible for downstream infarctions secondary to vascular insult.
Three months after graduating from KU, he began medical school at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. This is where Joseph felt he really refined a lot of the studying and test-taking strategies he expects to explore en route to masterminding an individualized game plan with every nuance uniquely dedicated to identifying and exploiting the challenges (aka, opportunities) wedged between you and your full potential- which, in his experience, frequently exceeds students’ initial goals.
He has also been an MCAT tutor for three years, helping hundreds of students crush the overly lengthy exam and, ultimately, get into medical school. These years of MCAT tutoring have uniquely positioned him to guide future physicians along what is ubiquitously regarded as the most treacherous segment on the truly lifelong journey of medical education.
Katherine graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2020. She is currently in her first year at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Katherine was inducted into the engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, and received the Robert Edward Reiss Award in Chemical Engineering for outstanding promise in biochemical engineering.
In college, Katherine conducted clinical research at the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center and the New York-Presbyterian Neurological Intensive Care Unit. Katherine was a teaching assistant in the chemistry lab and led a clinical research program at the Mt. Sinai hospital system. She also served as president of her Greek organization and was a pianist in a classical chamber ensemble.
In medical school, Katherine has already joined clinical research projects, community clinics, and interest groups. She is interested in pursuing a career in a surgical subspecialty. Katherine is actively involved in the admissions process as an interviewer and has spent much of her time mentoring others applying to medical school. Over the years, through tutoring, teaching, and mentoring, Katherine has been passionate about helping others. Having just recently gone through the medical school admissions process herself, she is dedicated to helping others navigate applying, and she is very excited to work with students.
Katherine knew she wanted to be a veterinarian since she was two years old and has never doubted that decision. She shadowed several veterinarians while in high school and worked in a histology lab. While in her undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland, Katherine learned about the field of laboratory animal medicine while taking a lab animal management course. From that, she became more involved in research in her department and completed a summer externship at the NIH veterinary pathology center.
On the advice of her mentors, she applied for dual DVM/Ph.D. programs and was accepted at UC Davis. During the Ph.D. portion of the program, her lab moved to the world-renowned hospital, the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, MN. She completed her Immunology Ph.D. there, during which she published six first-author papers in the field of Transplant Immunology. Afterward, she rejoined the class of 2020, where she decided to pursue a residency in Laboratory Animal Medicine. She matched to Stanford University for her residency, where she is currently training.
Katherine graduated cum laude from UC Davis in 2017 with a B.S. in Microbiology and a minor in Managerial Economics. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in a cardiovascular tissue engineering lab and as a veterinary technician at Davis’s Large Animal ICU, which she still holds today. She has also worked in small animal and private equine practices, and she has experience rehabilitating and retraining abused horses. She has a passion for equine medicine and hopes to one day work in veterinary academia as a large animal surgeon and musculoskeletal research professor.
Katherine held many leadership positions in veterinary school, including co-president of the Veterinary Emergency Response Team, Student Activities Treasurer of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association, and the student representative for the California Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps (CAVMRC) Steering Committee. Her leadership work has been just as extensive in graduate school, serving on admissions committees and the SVM Research Committee and Community Council.
Katherine loves serving as a mentor. She has experience in private tutoring, guiding middle and high school students on career path development, and mentoring undergraduate researchers and other visiting scholars. She is eager to meet the up-and-coming generation of veterinary medicine and happy to provide any insights she can about the application process.
Lauren Wallace brings an extensive background in academic essay editing and shaping to her role at Inspira Advantage. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in 3.5 years from The George Washington University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with double minors in Human Services & Social Justice and Journalism, she was selected for a competitive role at the University Writing Center. After completing a required Pedagogy & Praxis for Writers course, Lauren worked for 2.5 years helping students attending GW’s undergraduate, graduate, law, and medical schools with everything from admissions essays to resumes, dissertations, theses, and course papers. She received the highest scores from anonymous students surveyed who visited her at the writing center across all consultants during the spring of 2017. She also interned in early childhood education policy at the National Association of State Boards of Education and helped to work on legislative advocacy initiatives as an intern at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Upon graduation from GW, Lauren worked in fundraising and grant writing for WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease and then pursued a corporate marketing, communications, and editing role at a large corporate insurance brokerage firm.
However, it was Lauren’s role at WomenHeart that first drew her to pursue a career in healthcare, so she was accepted to Emory University’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program. She will graduate after 11 months in August 2022.
In the summer of 2021, prior to beginning nursing school, Lauren served as a Community Engagement Intern at buddhi, a fledgling digital platform for individuals affected by cancer to connect with one another. She also became the first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion intern at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and worked part-time for a college admissions consulting company on personal statements for high school students.
Additionally, Lauren freelances on the side and recently assisted an incoming law student with their admissions essays who was ultimately admitted to Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. She can’t wait to have a hand in helping you make your own dream of attending nursing school a reality, too!
Lea is a dual-degree DDS/Ph.D. student at the University of California, San Francisco. She completed her undergraduate (Biology) and graduate (Biomedical Research) at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where she is originally from. Lea became enthralled with dentistry and research in her final year of college. While working at a local medical clinic, she realized the vast inaccessibility to dental care within her own community in central Georgia. She is genuinely passionate about leveraging research to broaden access to dental care and prevention mechanisms and currently investigates the interaction of diet and the oral microbiome to discover new means of dental disease prevention that are accessible, affordable, and widely impactful. She entered her training at UCSF in the Fall of 2018.
During this time, Lea has achieved several accolades, including being the winner of School of Dentistry Research and Clinical Excellence Day, the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine Pilot Trainee Award Grant, an NIH-funded grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the Student Research Fellowship awarded by the American Association of Dental Research. She also holds several first-author publications, including a book chapter. Lea currently works with several pre-dental students who volunteer in her Ph.D. laboratories. She regularly mentors these students on several aspects of dental school applications, ranging from personal statements, recommendations for improvements, and choosing schools and programs. Lea plans to one day become an academician at a research-focused dental school and thus has a strong enthusiasm for teaching and mentoring. She is deeply familiar with the application process as she has gone through this herself and is also involved in dental outreach events at undergraduate institutions.
Leela graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College with dual degrees in Biology and Studio Art in 2017. She is currently in her fourth year of dental school at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). Leela will begin her Residency in Prosthodontics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry in 2021.
At Swarthmore College, Leela worked as a Teaching Assistant, Dean's Tutor, and Science Associate for the Biology Department. She conducted research on plant genetics funded by the NIH and HHMI, served on the Board of the Swarthmore Hillel, and worked as the Director of Advertising at Swarthmore's Paces Café.
In dental school, Leela has been heavily involved in dental education research and entrepreneurship. She is the CEO and a co-founder of My Dental Key, an EdTech startup, an Art Editor of the Harvard Medical Student Review, and has produced numerous concept videos for the Harvard Medical School and HSDM curricula. Leela mentors Harvard students on dental school admissions as a Non-Resident Tutor for Harvard College's Dunster House.
Leela is excited to apply her extensive experience with education, peer-to-peer learning, and dental school to help applicants craft and refine their own dental school admissions narratives.
Linda completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biobehavioral Health at The Pennsylvania State University. She gained experience in research, behavioral, and clinical health prior to her acceptance to a direct entry Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Boston College. Leading up to her acceptance into the program, she completed the necessary prerequisites and experience to prepare herself for the rigorous accelerated program.
As a former patient care technician, her substantial experience in the hospital environment enabled her to decide to pursue her DNP. Now in her second year of the program, Linda has completed extensive amounts of clinical coursework, which has led to her receiving an MSN generalist degree! She will soon begin her Nurse Practitioner clinicals starting her Doctorate project in the summer of 2022 and hopes to bring her expertise to Inspira.
Luke is currently a psychiatrist at Harvard Beth Israel in his first year of residency. He is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship in medicine which led him to complete a dual MD/MBA degree at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Stern School of Business. He was 1 of 5 applicants selected to be a Silverstein Scholar and receive a prestigious full cost of attendance scholarship.
In business school, he worked for a healthcare venture capital firm, performing due diligence on medical device and diagnostic companies, as well as tech-enabled healthcare services, leading to several multimillion-dollar investments. Before medical school, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Emory University, where he studied Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, and Applied Mathematics. He was an Advanced-EMT with the Emory EMS service, which helped solidify his path to clinical medicine. Prior to matriculation, he conducted basic science research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, investigating cocaine addiction and restless leg syndrome, resulting in multiple publications in Molecular Medicine.
At Emory, he was a founding member of the Pre-Health Mentoring Office Peer Mentor program, helping underclassmen prepare for medical school applications. At NYU, he served on the admissions committee, reviewing applications and selecting interview candidates, and he currently interviews candidates for residency at Harvard.
Megan graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a B.S. in Animal Science and an Equine Science minor. During her undergrad, she continuously took more and more equine classes and developed interests in both equine reproduction and exercise physiology. She realized that she wanted to pursue an equine-centered career but decided to pursue grad school to determine if her passion was more research or clinically focused. She received her M.S. in Animal Science, specializing in Equine physiology, from SIU Carbondale and had the opportunity to intern at a clinic in Western Kentucky during this time that specialized in Equine lameness. Fundamentally, grad school solidified that she loved research in combination with clinical medicine, so she decided to pursue a doctorate in veterinary medicine.
Following grad school, Megan worked as a small animal veterinary technician for two years while going through the vet school application process. Megan planned on only taking one gap year but unfortunately did not get accepted to veterinary school during her first application cycle. However, with some gained experience and work on her application, she was accepted to multiple schools during her second cycle!
Megan is currently entering her 3rd year at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, where she is tracking equines and is interested in pursuing racetrack medicine following graduation. She serves as one of the Presidents of the Class of 2024 (alongside fellow consultant Breanna), the President of the Equine & Camelid Medicine Club, and is on the board of the Food Animal & Reproduction Medicine (FARM) club. Additionally, Megan has worked as a student technician in the Large Animal Surgery Department of the UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital and has had the opportunity to conduct research on Equine Genetics through the UC Davis Students Training in Advanced Research (STAR) Program, which is currently pending publication in Equine Veterinary Journal.
When Megan is not making quizlets and study maps, she is out at the barn with her horse, hanging out with her cats Sirius and Cissy, or spending time with friends, either grabbing dinner or getting together for a wine night to watch new Love Island episodes.
Having gone through two application cycles, Megan understands first-hand how stressful and frustrating the admissions process can be, whether that is from having a lower GPA, being a non-traditional student, confusion with the admissions process, or even just figuring out how to showcase your amazing qualities. She is excited to consult current applicants (future veterinarians) to help minimize this stress and make it as smooth of a process as it can be!
Micah is originally from New York and grew up in New Jersey. He is a 2019 graduate of the University of Michigan, where he obtained his Honors B.S degree in Neuroscience. Micah excelled in his studies, receiving Honors recognition for his neuroscience thesis and graduating in the top 3% of all graduates. He worked alongside Dr. Tim Bruns in the Peripheral Neural Engineering and Urodynamics Lab, combining his two interests: urological medicine and neuroscience pathophysiology. In his research, Micah focused on identifying associations between neural stimulation therapy and sexual dysfunction, earning the Underwood Alger Scholarship for his research, and presenting to the Society for Neuroscience. He also worked alongside Dr. Joph Steckel, Vice Chairman of Urology at the Smith Institute for Urology as a research fellow.
While in college, Micah volunteered as a teaching assistant for elementary school students and worked as a private tutor for organic chemistry and biochemistry. He served as an executive member of the Sports Medicine Club, where he focused on mentoring premedical students. He continued his efforts to teach and mentor students during his gap year, where he worked as the primary biology, chemistry, and physics teacher at a middle school in New York City and continued working as a private tutor and pre-med mentor. Micah has experience in school selection, primary and secondary application writing, and interview preparation.
Micah was accepted into several top medical school programs and decided to attend the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he is currently a second-year student. There, he volunteers as a high school mentor and currently serves as the Public Outreach Coordinator for the Medical Discovery of Careers program. He focuses on mentoring students in their efforts to pursue careers in medicine. He is a member of the Urology Minimally Invasive Surgery research group under the leadership of Dr. Michael Palese. He has authored several publications and presented his research to the American Urology Association. Along with his other work, Micah is an avid musician who composes, records, and performs music in New York City.
Mimi grew up in Orange County, CA, where she was heavily involved in the local Vietnamese community through volunteer work, cultural performance, and event organization.
She then attended UCLA and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology. As a first-generation, low-income student, she funded her education entirely through a full cost of attendance merit scholarship: the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program (GMSP). During her time in undergraduate education, she conducted research on Chagas disease under the Pathology and Immunology Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which was funded by a grant through The Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP). Mimi also studied physics abroad at the University of Sussex through the UCEAP program and led several service organizations focusing on public health. During this time, she also worked as a medical assistant and clinical research associate.
After graduating, Mimi took one gap year to apply to medical school, during which she also worked as a medical assistant at a podiatry clinic in her hometown. She is now a first-year medical student at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM), having received scholarships to cover the total cost of attendance through the Distinguished Student Scholarship and the Melvin DeHovitz Scholarship.
As of recently, her interests include Cultural Health, Community Wellness, Mental Health, and Women’s Health. She is passionate about serving underserved communities and looks forward to helping prospective physicians at Inspira, especially disadvantaged ones, put their best foot forward.
Mohammad was born in Manhattan, raised in the U.S., Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and ultimately decided to return home for college. He attended Columbia University, graduating with a B.A. in Biology, where he started his academic career publishing a novel GAPDH sequence for Anethum Graveolens. He was later accepted to a respected research summer research fellowship with grant funding from SUNY Downstate to conduct bench research on immune-mediated cancer cell killing mechanisms. He spent time at New York University’s Bellevue as a summer fellow completing both research in prostate cancer and a wide range of clinical rotations.
After receiving over ten medical school acceptances, he decided to continue his education at the Icahn School of Medicine, where he was awarded a prestigious summer research fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering. There, he wrote multiple publications, including a paper and a book chapter on gynecological malignancies and several abstracts regarding geriatric assessment in cancer patients. During his time in medical school, he co-founded the first evidenced-based medicine student group, wrote for various student publications between Mount Sinai and the University of Pennsylvania, served on the steering committee of a student group for under-represented students, and interviewed prospective students as an Admissions Committee member.
He is now a resident in radiation oncology at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, with an expected graduation date of July 2023. During residency, he has continued to publish research on topics ranging from gynecological malignancies in Central Africa to breast cancer treatment techniques and quality improvement in the radiation oncology outpatient clinic. He continues his academic path in quality improvement and entrepreneurship.
At Inspira, Mohammad is excited to help pre-medical students through the arduous but rewarding path to becoming a physician.
Nakia is currently a senior General Surgery Resident at New York-Presbyterian/Queens - Weill Cornell. She obtained her Bachelor's in Science at UCLA and graduated with honors majoring in Physiological Sciences and a minor in Global Studies. Before medical school, she pursued a Master's of Science at Keck Graduate Institute with an emphasis on biotechnology, focusing on device and diagnostic development. Nakia worked with many biotech/pharmaceutical companies on projects involving clinical applicability and the impact of therapeutic options. She completed her medical school education at Touro College of Medicine as a member of the Sigma Sigma Phi National Honors Society, graduating in the top 10% of her class. Nakia also has a vested interest in global medicine and started a new Global Brigades chapter in her graduate program with medical trips to Central America. Throughout this journey, she has been heavily involved in research, presenting at national conferences such as CHEST and publishing manuscripts.
Nakia also has extensive experience with mentorship since 2013. She served as a tutor and mentor to both pre-med and medical students in order to help them achieve their career goals. Duties included assistance with coursework, extracurriculars, test prep, and applications. During medical school, she was a member of Med-Achieve, an organization dedicated to mentoring high school students interested in pursuing medicine. In addition, she is familiar with the admissions process. Nakia was previously a Graduate Admissions assistant and has served on the admissions committees in both her master's and medical school programs. She hopes to continue to counsel prospective students and appropriately guide them to attain their professional aspirations.
Naseem is a third-year student at the UCLA School of Dentistry. He is originally from Chino, California, and hopes to pursue a residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery after graduation. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, Pomona, in 2019 with a major in Psychology, Summa cum laude.
While at UCLA, Naseem served as the Apollonian Society Representative, enjoying connecting with alumni and aiding in keeping the student center the best it can be for him and his fellow classmates. Naseem has also played a large role in the American Student Dental Association, where he served on local and state boards and attended multiple national conferences. In his pursuit of oral surgery, Naseem has taken USMLE CBSE and achieved a score of 98th percentile among dental students.
Naseem is very passionate about helping pre-dents get into dental school. During undergrad, Naseem had a great mentor who led him through the whole process and so he understands how important it is to have someone there to help. Since he got into dental school, Naseem has helped many students get into competitive dental programs across the nation!
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Neil Jairath is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical school, class of 2021. He graduated #1 in his class there, receiving the Charles and Phyllis Lowe Merit Scholarship (awarded to fourth-year medical students of highest academic standing), the Academic Achievement Award, and the Academic Recognition Award. Neil was also awarded the Paul DeWolf Award and Patrick John Niland Award, was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honors Society and Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Society, and graduated with Distinction in Research Honors. He was actively involved in leadership initiatives and interdisciplinary research, including the utilization of artificial intelligence as a means of augmented physician diagnosis and biostatistical projects and clinical research investigating various oncologic theories, especially pertaining to the intersection of immunology and oncology. He served as an interviewer and admissions representative for three years during his time at Michigan. Neil has 20+ published articles and has presented his team's work 30+ times at national and international conferences. He is pursuing a residency in dermatology at New York University starting July 2022, following an intern year at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.
Prior to pursuing medicine, Neil attended The University of Notre Dame, where he studied medicine and computer science, with minors in philosophy and the AL/SC Honors Program. There, he founded a healthcare technology startup, worked in investment banking, and eventually found his way to falling in love with the practice of medicine. Neil is looking forward to helping you achieve your goals of doing the same!
Nia is a Penn State Alumna from Maryland. She graduated with a Bachelor in Science in Biology. Nia has been a medical technician for a summer camp in 2016, a medical/surgical assistant for a podiatry surgeon as well as a medical assistant for an urgent care. She has performed many medical tasks such as taking vitals, phlebotomy, administering medications and vaccinations, assisting in injections and surgeries, setting up IV's, taking x-rays as well as testing for diseases and viruses. She will soon be starting the accelerated nursing program at Marymount University in the Fall of 2022. She has traveled to many countries and plans to join the Air Force after she completes the accelerated nursing program.
Nicole was born and raised in New Rochelle, NY, a suburb of New York City. She graduated from the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University with a B.S. in Human Biology, Health, and Society, and a minor in Human Development. In her senior year, she was named a Frank and Rosa Rhodes Scholar, an honor bestowed on one outstanding student in each of the seven colleges at Cornell each year.
After college, she took one gap year, where she worked as a Clinical Research Aide in the Department of Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. In this role, Nicole designed and executed clinical trials, chart reviews, and quality improvement projects across various topics, particularly in cardiac and global health anesthesia. She then went on to medical school at the University of Virginia, where she is currently a fourth-year medical student applying for a residency in neurology.
Nicole has developed a passion for medical education and curricular development throughout medical school. She has spearheaded a number of initiatives and curricula in student wellness, mindfulness, and burnout prevention. She is especially committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in medical education. Nicole has been inducted into the Raven Society, the highest honor that can be bestowed at the University of Virginia, based on her outstanding academic record, contributions to the University and Charlottesville communities, and promise in the field of medicine. She is also a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
Nicole is a committed and enthusiastic mentor who is excited to bring her talents and energy to Inspira. She is especially interested in working with first in their family applicants and those who experienced academic challenges on their path to medical school. There were times along her own journey when Nicole did not think she would be able to get into medical school, and she enjoys helping applicants find strength in their vulnerabilities. Nicole is just as fulfilled working with students as she is with patients and feels privileged to help other future physicians tell their stories and pursue their calling.
Nikhil is a resident physician at the University of Utah, training in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. He attended UCLA for medical school and UC Davis for his undergraduate studies. As an undergrad, he had a strong interest in working with low-income populations, education and health literacy, and community health. This continued in medical school, where he led a clinic serving populations experiencing homelessness in LA. He also has a strong interest in global health and clinical research. As a resident, he is interested in further sub-specializing in head and neck cancer surgery and microvascular reconstruction.
Niki Grotewold is a second-year MD-PhD student at University of Michigan interested in medical neurology and research. He received interviews at 2/3 of the schools he applied to and was accepted to almost a dozen MD-PhD programs across the country. He received a full-ride to Ohio State and studied biochemistry and microbiology while researching and volunteering in his free time. Throughout summers, he attended fully-funded internships from Johns Hopkins and University of Michigan. He then spent a gap year at University of Michigan researching neurodegenerative diseases while applying to medical school programs. He has published 3 manuscripts, is fluent in Spanish, and is looking forward to sharing his expertise in applying to medical school AND enjoying the process.
Olivia is a third-year student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, originally from Guilford, Connecticut, and she hopes to pursue a residency in Orthodontics after graduation. She graduated from Northeastern University in 2019 with a major in Health Science and a minor in Spanish, and her love for the city of Boston has only grown since then.
During her time at HSDM, Olivia has served as a Fellow for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, during which she has thoroughly enjoyed mentoring pre-dental students through the Bridge to Dental School program. In her second year, she was accepted into the ADEA Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program and also selected as a Scholar in Dental Education for the Class of 2023, strengthening her desire to pursue teaching in her future career.
Olivia is also passionate about public health, particularly preventive education, and she has been involved in volunteer work through Give Kids a Smile, Special Smiles, and the ACTION pediatric clinic. Olivia enjoys traveling, trying new workout classes, and spending time with friends and family in her spare time.
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At Berkeley, Olivia explored Public Health through her coursework and her work in a student-run clinic, the Suitcase Clinic, and through advising on campus health policy. She worked as a Wellness Coordinator for the clinic, providing mental health first aid to unhoused members of the Berkeley community. She also worked alongside UC Berkeley administrators to edit title IX policies and host events to protect sexual health on campus. Olivia graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley with bachelor's degrees in Public Health and Integrative Biology.
After graduation, she built upon her undergraduate research experiences to further her Public Health career as a Research Assistant for the California Emerging Infections Program. In this role, she conducted surveillance research on infectious diseases in the Bay Area and contributed to CDC COVID research on healthcare personnel health outcomes during the pandemic.
Olivia is now at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine. She is currently establishing a student organization in advocacy and organized medicine and cultivating a research project related to housing policy and health outcomes. She hopes to get an MPH and eventually work in health policy while practicing medicine.
Outside of Public Health and schooling, Olivia has been a tutor since she was in high school. She has tutored a wide variety of STEM topics for students ages 8-24 and is excited to apply this experience to mentoring students going through the medical school admissions process.
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Parth was born and raised in central New Jersey (yes, it exists!) and graduated from the honors program at The College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in Economics. He then spent a year working at a high school in Queens, NY, providing classroom and after-school support to 9th-grade students through City Year, an AmeriCorps program. Before matriculating at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), he obtained a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Rutgers University. While in medical school, he was a student doctor at the Promise Clinic, providing care for uninsured patients in the local community. He has also published manuscripts and presented his work at both national and international conferences. This summer, he will be starting his residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
He previously worked for the Princeton Review, tutoring students on the SAT and MCAT. He has also tutored inmates, who were on track to be released, for the GED at a correctional facility during college and helped to coordinate the mentorship program between masters’ students in the Biomedical Sciences program, which is like a post-baccalaureate program for students who desire a health professional career, and 1st-year medical students at Rutgers RWJMS.
Outside of school, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, running, listening to a great podcast, and cheering on Liverpool FC. He understands that the medical school application process can be overwhelming and wants to help tackle this beast in smaller chunks. He has helped family and friends with the application over the years and is excited about joining Inspira Advantage. He has always enjoyed working with students and wants to help applicants convey what drives them and showcase their unique achievements.
Pearl's previous experiences include working in Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Pfizer Oncology and the diabetes information company Close Concerns. She has spoken as a patient advocate at the FDA and conducted research at prestigious institutions, including the National Institutes of Health, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Perelman School of Medicine/Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Northwell Health Cohen Children's Medical Center, and JFK Hospital Hackensack Meridian Health. Pearl has published numerous abstracts and manuscripts in multiple journals and presented at National Conferences, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Neurological Association, and American Society of Radiation Oncology Annual meetings.
At ZSOM, she is part of the selective IMPACcT and KLAR Leadership programs, President of the American Medical Association chapter, is in charge of the Education and Local Outreach/Partnerships for the Community Service Committee, and a youth mentor in the Medical Science Youth Program. She is pursuing a Humanities in Medicine concentration through the GOLD foundation and is an EMT.
During her undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania, she was involved in tour guiding, the Professional Women's Alumni Alliance, Fox Leadership Fellowship Program, Puentes de Salud bilingual after school literacy program, was a Calculus tutor, and a part of Penn's Global Initiatives Abroad Team, as well as a member of the Penn Association for Gender Equity. She is a life-long Girl Scout and has earned her Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards.
At Inspira, Pearl is excited to work with pre-medical students through the challenging yet rewarding journey of becoming a physician.
After moving around between India and Canada until he was three, Praruj settled down in North Carolina and hasn’t left since. He grew up in Charlotte, NC, and moved to Durham, NC, in 2013 to attend the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Two years later, he moved down the street to attend Duke, completing a B.S. in Neuroscience. Now, he is a third-year pursuing an M.D. at Duke, with the eventual goal of becoming an ophthalmologist.
Praruj took an early interest in the neurological sciences due to family experiences with neurodegenerative disease. This led him to pursue a neuroscience major, get involved in neuronal imaging research, and contribute to global neurosurgery initiatives during his undergraduate education. Eventually, his experiences in the neuronal imaging of visual processing pathways in zebrafish led him to explore vision research in medical school. Now, he studies how retinal and choroidal imaging can be used to predict the presence of neurodegenerative disease and is excited to pursue a career exploring the relationship between the eye and systemic diseases.
As a year-round swimmer during high school with a year-long stint as a rower in college, Praruj recognizes that balancing personal passions with medical aspirations is a challenging process that requires creative solutions. Praruj has extensive experience tutoring student-athletes in organic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology while at Duke. He has also had years of experience advising athletes, colleagues, and friends on the medical school admission process, including editing primary and secondary applications and interview preparation. He is excited to have the opportunity to work with aspiring physicians to help them realize their dreams and pursue fulfilling medical careers!
Rachel Sullivan, MSN, RN, is a dedicated doctoral student in the certified nurse-midwifery (CNM) program at the Columbia University School of Nursing, graduating in the summer of 2022. Passionate about women’s health and reproductive justice, she is committed to becoming an advanced practice provider focused on patient-centered and trauma-informed care. Rachel currently holds professional memberships with the American College of Nurse-Midwives, New York City Midwives, and the Alpha Zeta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
While studying to become a nurse in the Master’s Direct Entry (MDE) and nurse-midwife in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs at Columbia, Rachel has served as a peer mentor, teaching assistant, and academic coach to over thirty students. Rachel has also served as a mentor to high school students through The Chica Project, based in Boston. Prior to attending nursing school, she volunteered with AmeriCorps VISTA to coordinate the Boston Breastfeeding Coalition at Vital Village Network of Boston Medical Center and worked as a home care aide. Additionally, she spent time as a volunteer doula at the University of Michigan Von Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. She completed her BS in 2017 at the University of Michigan, majoring in Movement Science and completing the Program in Global Health Design.
Rahul earned his undergraduate degree with College Honors in Biology and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was also a member of the Lock and Chain Honorary Society. His love for teaching began in high school, where he tutored children from underprivileged areas in Chicago, but he formally expanded on this in college at WashU, where he served as a Teacher's Assistant for introductory Biology and Spanish courses. Rahul also worked in the admissions office as a campus tour guide and an interviewer for prospective students.
After his undergraduate studies, he entered medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in his hometown of Chicago. Throughout medical school, Rahul simultaneously worked in the laboratory of John Crispino at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, studying the role of chromosome 21 genes in normal and malignant hematopoiesis; his work was funded by Alpha Omega Alpha (Carolyn L. Kuckein Award), the American Society of Hematology (HONORS Award), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Medical Research Fellowship).
During medical school, Rahul also served as his university's representative to the Illinois State Medical Society and American Medical Association, co-founded a Business of Medicine club, which included consulting projects with local pharmaceutical companies, and served as a TA/tutor for their clinical medicine course and USMLE prep, and continued rigorous research supported by the James Scholar program. He also spent time working with the Washington University in St. Louis pre-health office, helping to compile a database of recent graduates who entered medical and other healthcare-related professional schools with application metrics to better direct prospective applicants.
In 2019, Rahul began his residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as part of the Physician-Scientist Track. He will be completing his residency in June 2021 and staying on at Penn to start my fellowship in Hematology/Oncology.
Rahul graduated magna cum laude with distinction from Duke University, majoring in neuroscience and minoring in biology and chemistry. He then spent a gap year at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. Rahul spent a year as an NIH IRTA fellow, investigating the roles of vasopressin (Avp) and oxytocin (Oxt) in the central nervous system using mouse models. He completed his MD at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. While in medical school, Rahul published over 24 PubMed-indexed manuscripts, including both journal articles and book chapters. Rahul is currently completing his residency in Anesthesiology at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, where he has already begun publishing within the department. He currently conducts academic research in pain medicine, perioperative care, and healthcare disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For several years, Rahul has served as a member of Duke’s Medical Advisory Program (MAP) and UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Premedical Advisory Program. He has helped many students succeed throughout medical school and residency application processes. As a well-published author, he has extensive experience producing high-quality, professional essays, which have helped countless students throughout the admissions process.
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Ramin graduated with honors from California State University, Fullerton, for his undergraduate studies, where he double-majored in biology and music and obtained minors in chemistry and psychology. During this time, he received 13 awards and scholarships and conducted research on copper metabolism, antibiotic resistance, and HIV therapeutics. Ramin decided to pursue the DDS/Ph.D. track at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to integrate his interests in both clinical and research domains. His Ph.D. was focused on the genetics and genomics of head and neck cancers, in which he sought to understand the identity and function of chromosomal alterations that play a role in the evolution of tumor cells. While at UCSF, he received an F30 Fellowship from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), UCSF’s Moritz-Heyman Discovery Fellowship, and the prestigious Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) scholarship.
Over the last 12 years, Ramin has worked with more than 300 students ranging from 5-60 years of age at all levels (K-12, college, and post-baccalaureate) in topics of biology, chemistry, and piano. He has also worked with students on standardized test preparation for several SAT Subject Tests and AP exams, the DAT and MCAT, and has coached numerous students for both college and professional school admissions. He has expertise in working with students with special needs, as he has worked with many individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and dyslexia.
Ramin is a highly experienced, enthusiastic, and supportive mentor and is very excited to share his knowledge with students that intend to pursue dentistry. In addition to UCSF, he was accepted into several DDS/Ph.D. programs across the country, all with a full-ride scholarship. He has participated in interviewing prospective students at UCSF and is well familiar with the admissions requirements of dental schools. He has a highly structured, comprehensive approach when working with students on application and interview preparation and has a strong track record of success with past students.
Riley has been working as an MCAT coach and tutor for more than 1.5 years. He has worked with more than 60 students ranging from first-time MCAT takers looking for a 520+ score to fourth time re-takers looking to get above a 500. He has seen all types of students find success and has seen improvements as large as 15 points. In any case, he prides himself on listening to each student's unique needs and tailoring their MCAT preparation accordingly. He is a firm believer that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to MCAT studying and that MCAT success comes from individualized self-reflection, active listening, and hard work and this is why he is taking his skills to Inspira.
Rohan is a graduate of Columbia University with a degree in biology. He completed his MD and MBA from the Tufts University School of Medicine's combined program. He is the recipient of the Norman S. Stearns MD/MBA Award and MedTech Boston's "40 under 40" Award. Rohan is currently completing his residency in Anesthesiology at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, where he currently serves as Chief Resident over the 70+ residents in the program. He conducts academic research and has published on topics relating to pain medicine, perioperative care, crisis/organizational management, the economic cost of healthcare disparities, and fraud within healthcare organizations. Following residency, Rohan will complete his fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at Harvard/Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Rohan served as an appointed voting member of the Tufts School of Medicine admissions committee. He has interviewed numerous candidates, gained extensive training in application review, and adjudicated hundreds of applications. For the last 3+ years, he has worked with dozens of students as a private admissions consultant and has helped clients from all backgrounds get into their top choices, including UPenn, Columbia, Stanford, and Mayo. As chief resident, he helped organize the transformation to a virtual application process at one of the country's most competitive residency programs within his specialty. Prior to entering medical school, Rohan worked as a media producer and is the former president of the Columbia University debate team, giving him over ten years of experience in mock interviewing, strategic positioning, and persuasive writing.
Rohil was born and brought up in the city of Kolkata in eastern India. He knew he wanted to be a physician at an early age, but his academic interests were in math and engineering. To get the opportunity to marry these interests together, Rohil took a leap of faith and moved to the US to study Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. After this, he chose to attend medical school at Yale, where he did a dedicated year of research on the applications of machine learning in radiology.
Currently, Rohil is finishing up medical school and applying for residency programs in diagnostic and interventional radiology. Throughout this journey, he feels lucky enough to be mentored by many and has been fortunate to pass this on to others. Rohil finds mentoring others (in HS, college, and now medical school) very gratifying, and he hopes to continue these experiences at Inspira! He hopes to work with ambitious pre-meds/medical students and guide them on their journey to the next steps.
Saahil Patel is a determined, focused, and studios student in an accelerated 7-Year BS/MD medical program. Saahil has a stellar academic record, having been bestowed the title of Valedictorian of one of America’s best STEM public high schools. Despite his program being accelerated, Saahil was able to finish his undergraduate studies in two years, earning him a rare gap year before medical school with a guaranteed seat. As a 99th percentile MCAT scoring-student and professional tutor of several years, Saahil is able to cooperatively work with his clients to boost their scores, strengthen their confidence, and instruct them on needed content. Saahil is also keenly aware of the difficulty of landing a BS/MD program, so he can work with clients interested in these programs and shepherd them through the arduous process. Furthermore, having conducted longitudinal research work at a young age, served as a hospital intern, and volunteered in his community as an EMT, Saahil understands the multiple facets of medicine and can connect with clients on their interests and aspirations. Please do get in touch! He is more than happy to meet!
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Originally from Los Angeles, Sabiha went to UCLA as an undergraduate and pursued a degree in psychology. She was hoping to eventually apply to medical school and become a psychiatrist. She was involved in multiple extracurriculars, one of which included volunteer work at St. Mary's Medical Center. While doing prerequisite coursework, Sabiha began to research job outlook and satisfaction for healthcare professionals. She also asked physicians and nurse practitioners at the hospital about their own personal experiences. The response she got was mixed. Many of the physicians reported their satisfaction to be either just "ok" or "I wish I had chosen something else," with the occasional " I love it." The NPs, on the other hand, were more likely to report happiness, job satisfaction, and opportunities for growth.
Sabiha then decided to apply to nurse practitioner school. Today, she is one semester shy of graduating from a DNP program at UMASS. She can honestly say this was the best career decision she could have made. She hopes to be an inspiration to upcoming candidates in helping them decide what the best fit for their professional careers is.
Sarah is an acute care nurse practitioner currently working in oncology at Harvard/BIDMC in Boston. She took a circuitous route to become an NP. After completing her MPH at the Boston University School of Public Health and working on a clinical trial, she missed working directly with patients. She went on to pursue her MSN at the Yale School of Nursing.
She has research experience and interests in oncology, clinical trials, and public health. One of her favorite activities in school includes volunteering for a multidisciplinary free clinic, during which she got to provide care for some of the most vulnerable populations as well as to help younger medical, nursing, and PA students hone in on their skills. She also served as a teaching assistant at YSN after being inspired by some of the incredible TAs that coached her. She has helped guide students through the application cycles of various programs, including nursing, physician assistant, and public health.
Through a series of influential experiences, considerable exposure in the clinical setting, and an innate passion for innovating the dental field, Sean has set his long-term goal of becoming a dental clinician attending the University of California, San Francisco’s Advanced Dual-Degree DDS/Ph.D. program and is set to graduate in 2024. As a clinician scientist, his motivation is to develop more efficacious alternative drug and gene therapies that focus on patients who suffer from more advanced forms of periodontal disease and oral cancers. He is particularly interested in better understanding oral microbial-host interactions and how these events lead to the progression of oral cancers and chronic infections by dysregulating cellular and tissue processes at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels.
Sean has published numerous reviews and a book chapter focused on the pathogenesis and treatment of oral cancers within the context of antimicrobial-based therapeutics, gene regulatory networks, and multi-omic analyses. He has also published original basic science articles as first author in established journals such as PLOS pathogens.
Throughout his academic journey, Sean has garnered considerable experience counseling and mentoring students within the pre-health domain. During his time at CSUSB, Sean worked in The Health Professions Advising Center (HPAC) as a pre-health counselor doing personal statement editing, mock interview prep, and numerous presentations reviewing the application process for various professional programs. He was also a founding member of the “Annual Pre-Medical and Pre-Health Conference,” which seeks to prepare underrepresented students who aspire to go into healthcare through workshops, keynote speakers, panel discussions, exhibition fairs, and more. Since starting at UCSF, Sean has sat on the admissions application committees in the graduate division and school of dentistry, interviewed a myriad of pre-dental and graduate applicants, and directly mentored an array of pre-dental students through the Student National Dental Association (SNDA).
As a non-traditional professional and graduate student, Sean is excited to be part of the Inspira team and brings a wealth of knowledge as an admissions counselor and expert.
Sheena is a first-year dermatology resident in the Northwell Health/LIJ Dermatology Residency Program in New York. She graduated from Emory University in 2016 with a double major in Biology and Economics. As an undergraduate, Sheena counseled pre-med students through her role as a Peer Mentor in Emory’s Pre-Health Advising Office.
After graduating from Emory University, Sheena enrolled in the combined M.D./M.B.A. dual-degree program at Tufts University. As a fourth-year medical student, Sheena was selected to serve on the Tufts School of Medicine Admissions Committee, where she formally interviewed and evaluated prospective applicants.
While in medical school, Sheena completed a research year at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, enabling her to author over a dozen publications on topics including autoimmune skin disease, quality improvement, health policy, and cost-effectiveness within dermatology. Sheena was the recipient of the William Dameshek Award in Undergraduate Research, which is given to graduating student(s) who demonstrate excellence in research. She also received the Norman S. Stearns M.D./ M.B.A. Leadership Award for demonstrating excellence in academics and leadership.
Sheena is an enthusiastic mentor who is passionate about helping students get into their dream schools. She has a myriad of experience mentoring in both formal and informal capacities, and she is excited to bring this experience to the Inspira team.
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Simone is currently a fourth-year student at Yale University's School of Medicine, pursuing an MD and planning to apply to psychiatry residency programs this fall. Prior to arriving at Yale, she received a BA in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude with high honors within her field. Simone spent two gap years as a research fellow in clinical neuroscience at Yale before entering medical school. She has ample experience in the application process, having helped hundreds of students perfect their applications to a wide variety of programs, whether undergraduate, professional, or doctoral. Her writing has not only helped her gain admission to top universities but has garnered awards, including Harvard's thesis award and the Hoopes Prize. Simone is passionate about helping Inspira candidates perfect their application, helping them find their place at a school that allows them to thrive academically and beyond, and maintaining mental and physical wellness during the stressful application process.
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Stephen Yoffie has always been a passionate student and educator. From his time at Washington University, where Stephen studied biomedical engineering, he has excelled in his coursework and made it a point to share that knowledge with others. Concurrently with his classes, Stephen engaged in research ranging from colorectal carcinoma to prosthesis development. Additionally, he took on many teaching roles throughout his time in college, including as the Head Program Manager of the First-year Summer Academic Program, a teacher for the Young Scientist Program, and a teacher and tutor through Kaplan Test Prep. While Stephen was pursuing his own path toward medicine, he also hoped to help others in their journeys.
After graduating from Washington University, Stephen enrolled in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Alongside his studies, he invests his time in pursuits such as research and education. Specifically, Stephen has served as a teacher through Mount Sinai's MedPrep program and the Northeast Regional Alliance, where he has engaged students to excite them about careers in medicine. Stephen also has served as a student member of the Icahn School of Medicine FlexMed admissions committee, where he has developed a further understanding of the nuances of the application process. Along with his work at Inspira, Stephen is currently between his second and third years of medical school, where he is pursuing a Master's degree in Public Health from Columbia University.
Sunny is an energetic, compassionate, and motivated individual who cares deeply about helping his mentees succeed in their ambitions and goals. He has extensive experience in both tutoring and as a mentor, including being chosen as a tutor for his peers in medical school by the medical school administration. He scored above 250 on both Step 1 and Step 2 to showcase his work ethic. Apart from his academic achievements, he excelled in both leadership and community service. He was the class president for his medical school class throughout all four years of medical school and was awarded multiple awards, such as a tuition scholarship and Outstanding Leadership awards, during multiple years in medical school. He has a passion for medical education and served on the admissions committee at his medical school and brings that passion to Inspira. He also served on the interview panel and interviewed pre-medical applicants for acceptance into his MD program. Sunny was also very involved in research during his medical training and has published multiple papers, some as first author. He will continue his pursuits in research by serving as a Research Fellow for Otolaryngology at the Medical University of South Carolina during the upcoming academic year.
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Synthia is a fourth-year medical student applying to psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of the University of Southern California (USC). She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with honors as a psychobiology major. During her gap year, she worked as an SSAT/SAT/ACT Math and Sciences coach and tutored high school physics and math.
Since her first job as a self-employed private physics tutor, Synthia has been passionate about teaching. She continued this passion in college, where she taught college physics to UCLA students and worked as a teaching assistant for a life science laboratory course. In medical school, she facilitated discussions about diet and exercise to promote health education among high school students and organized a program called Camp Cardiac for high school students to learn about cardiology. Throughout her years in higher education, she has also assisted friends and family with undergraduate and graduate school applications. At Keck, she helped with admissions by interviewing and evaluating several applicants.
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Tejal graduated summa cum laude and with the highest departmental honors from UCLA, where she majored in Human Biology and Society. While at UCLA, Tejal was extensively involved in campus life, community service, and research projects. As a resident assistant, Tejal mentored 90+ first-year students on matters ranging from academic counseling to personal emergencies and hosted large-scale programs to help students feel at home. As a student researcher, Tejal collaborated on projects in the Ronald Reagan Emergency Department, enhancing ED protocol efficiency, and at Cedars Sinai, studying genetic mechanisms of birth outcomes with this work culminating in award-winning oral and poster presentations. She also served her local community, working to provide healthcare to unsheltered folks with the Venice Family Clinic and tutoring LGBT+ youth at the LA LGBT Center.
Now in her fourth year at Keck School of Medicine, Tejal has continued her legacy of academic excellence, innovative research, and service to those around her. She has been extensively involved in advocating for human rights – creating toolkits for policymakers, presenting research at the national Physicians for Human Rights student conference, and educating peers on border health topics. In addition, she plays a vital role in campus life, serving as a Graduate Student Government senator, board member of various student organizations, and mentor for underclassmen. She also serves as a tutor for the system blocks and USMLE step exams. Tejal was awarded the Saban Research Scholarship for her work on the impact of social complexity on high-risk infant outcomes. She was also recognized as an Alexander/Kaiser Permanente Endowed Scholar for demonstrating leadership and service commitment. Tejal was elected to the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and will graduate in the spring with Highest Distinction (representing consistent excellence, awarded to <10% of seniors) and Dean’s Recognition (outstanding clinical record in 3rd and 4th year).
Tejal has a long history of serving as a tutor and mentor for her peers throughout her academic career. She has significant experience tutoring, from tutoring high school AP classes to teaching group classes for USMLE Step 1 preparation. Furthermore, she has experience reviewing and editing personal statements for undergraduate and graduate school admissions and has consistently received excellent feedback. Tejal has also conducted countless interviews for the MD admissions program at KSOM and reviewed applications/personal statements for scholarship consideration at UCLA, giving her special insight into what admissions committees are looking for in a strong applicant. She has also provided private consultations for students applying to medical school before joining Inspira. Tejal is excited to bring her enthusiasm for teaching and mentorship to Inspira to prepare applicants for success in the next step of their medical school journey!
Tom is a current fourth-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and is about to begin an Internal Medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in June 2022. His interests include medical education, cardiology, and hepatology, though these were all discoveries he made later in medical school.
While at Penn, he has worked toward completing the Medical Education Certificate, volunteered as a mentor for students of various ages, and implemented a new 'handoff' program to ease the frequent transitions that students undergo during their clinical years of medical school.
Tom is originally from the Boston area and is a proud alumnus of Amherst College, where he was a neuroscience major. After graduation and before medical school, he spent a year in a neuroscience lab in Trondheim, Norway, as a Fulbright Research Fellow before moving back stateside for a clinical research year at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
At Inspira, Tom is excited to work with students who are eager to learn and excited to forge their paths in medicine.
Vaishali is currently a third-year student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She was accepted into the TCNJ/NJMS 7-year BS/MD program as a Biology major after graduating in the top 10% of her high school class. Vaishali spent a gap year working on translational research at Weill Cornell prior to starting at NJMS. During medical school, she has published & presented on several topics in surgery, is a member of the Student Interviewing Committee, and has won an Alumni Association Scholarship. Vaishali has mentored several pre-med students, particularly those interested in pursing the dual-degree option. She has also worked extensively teaching high school students interested in medicine through her school’s Mini-Medical program. She also works as an academic tutor for her peers. Vaishali loves working with students and at Inspira, wants to make the application process as seamless as possible while ensuring that the applicant’s strengths are highlighted & that he/she feels confident to embark on their individualized path to a career medicine.
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Varsha is a current fourth-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine, pursuing a residency in Internal Medicine. She grew up in San Jose, California, and graduated as valedictorian of Notre Dame High School. She was accepted to the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars program, a highly selective BA/MD program with a Trustee Scholarship. She graduated from Rice University cum laude with a BA in Psychology.
While at Rice University, Varsha conducted fertility research at Baylor College of Medicine. She founded the first Indian Classical dance team in Houston, leading the troupe to many national victories and performing at a few Rockets’ games. She also spent her time in college as a Gold Award advisor for Girl Scouts of the USA and as a member of student government.
Varsha has continued fundraising for and running medical camps for a small clinic in her native village in South India in medical school. She also has worked as a science tutor for middle schoolers and an anatomy tutor for first-year students. She is the Southern Chair of Medical Education for the AAMC and has served as an admissions interviewer for Baylor College of Medicine for over two years.
Having combed through the applications and interviewed dozens of students, she knows what will get you noticed and get committee members to advocate for you! Varsha is passionate about building a unique brand for her mentees that is consistent through essays, recommendation letters, and interviews to highlight a student’s strongest attributes.
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Vartan was born and raised in sunny southern California as the son of two immigrant parents. He attended Glendale Community College before transferring to and graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychobiology. As a student at GCC, he served as president of the Scholars program, the honors program on campus, and was awarded Dean’s List recognition. During his time at UCLA, he was involved with the Care Extender Program, serving as both a volunteer and then a Department Coordinator for multiple units, including the Neonatal ICU and Postpartum floors. He also worked as a researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, investigating novel opioid treatments for chronic pain. One of these studies has been published in the Frontiers in Pain scientific journal.
While applying to medical schools, Vartan spent the year working as a tutor for multiple organizations, including the Committee for Armenian Students in Public Schools (CASPS), a non-profit, grass-roots, community-based organization. As a tutor for this organization, he created lesson plans and provided one-on-one teaching for struggling high school students in the school district.
Vartan is currently a second-year medical student at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine at Seton Hill University. He serves as president of the Student Government Association and the student delegate for the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medicine Association (POMA). Additionally, he is a member of the POMA Technology Workgroup, where he has helped develop their first podcast. Between the summer of his first and second years in medical school, he was accepted in the NIH/NIA-funded research training in aging and geriatrics fellowship as part of the David Geffen School of Medicine’s MSTAR program. He worked with UCLA Health Vascular Neurology to conduct a study investigating the additional treatment time gained by utilizing a neuroprotective agent in the pre-hospital setting during episodes of acute ischemic stroke in elderly patients. This study was presented at multiple research conferences and submitted for consideration to the 2022 American Geriatric Society Conference.
Whit is a 2020 graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School, where he was involved in student government, joined the Path of Excellence in Medical Ethics, and was Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Journal of Medicine, among other activities.
Prior to medical school, he studied at Amherst College, earning a BA with Distinction while double-majoring in Mathematics and Economics. He conducted research at the University of Michigan's Michigan Cardiovascular Outcomes Research and Reporting Program (MCORRP), played in the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, and qualified for the NAQT National Tournament with Amherst College Quizbowl.
While in medical school, Whit decided to pursue a career in healthcare policy, electing not to continue to residency. While this puts him in a small minority of MDs without further clinical training, his nontraditional path affords a unique perspective on the key decisions facing students who may not know exactly what they want as they head into the medical school application process.
Whit enjoys board gaming, crossword puzzles, and cooking.
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Yunsoo Lee is an orthopedic resident at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts. She attended Harvard University with a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Economics. During her four years at college, she spent time working in a biology lab as well as being part of the Harvard Fencing Team and the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra.
She was accepted to Yale School of Medicine and deferred a year to complete research and work for a non-profit organization looking at health care reform in Massachusetts. Once starting at Yale, she continued to explore her interest in health policy and became an executive editor for the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics. She also did research and published in the fields of plastic surgery, transplant surgery, and orthopedic surgery.
Through her clinical rotations, she realized her love for orthopedics, and she is currently finishing her final year of orthopedic residency at Mount Sinai. She plans to specialize in spine surgery and pursue a two-year spine fellowship at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University.
Zack Grimmett is a fifth-year MD/PhD student at Case Western Reserve University, where he studies proteomics and cardiovascular signaling in the laboratory and aspires to become an Infectious Disease physician when he returns to the clinic. As an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, he studied Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Immunology, where he completed an undergraduate Honors thesis based on studies in his undergraduate laboratory, studying HIV pathogenesis at UCSF. In his gap year he remained in this laboratory as a research assistant, where he helped push several projects to publication focused on HIV-induced cell death and HIV latency. He has worked as a medical school admissions consultant, both formally and informally, for many years and has a keen interest in getting to know pre-medical and pre-MD/PhD applicants on their journey into medicine and science!
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