Mary S.

Mary started her career in science at Cornell University, where she balanced research, two part-time jobs, and a full class load. After graduating, she worked as a Lab Manager at the Drosophila Stock Center at Cornell before moving on to a laboratory technician role at the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Most recently, Mary worked as an associate researcher at Mount Sinai, where she specialized in stem cell biology and cancer development—doing everything from western blots and flow cytometry to mouse surgery, although her favorite by far is working with the mice. 

She is a published researcher with work appearing in peer-reviewed journals, including Bioengineering, the British Journal of Haematology, and Cell Stem Cell. Mary’s time volunteering in free clinics and mental healthcare settings ultimately drew her toward psychiatry and population health.

Mary realizes how daunting preparing for the MCAT can be and has experience breaking it down into manageable pieces. She encourages creativity and discussion during sessions, creating a safe space to get things wrong, take educated guesses, and work through uncertainty—because that is how real learning happens. Mary has extensive experience working with a vast range of students and diverse learning styles. Her approach is supportive, helping students take an active role in their education. She finds that engaging and active sessions produce the most meaningful learning and encourages students to think through concepts instead of purely memorizing them. Her strengths include helping students manage stress levels and building confidence through thorough review, and she values progress over perfection. 

Mary's core belief is that all students can succeed, and she greatly enjoys seeing Inspira Advantage students find success and confidence as they navigate their MCAT prep plan.