The CMU Medical School Alumni Mentoring Program was started in 2018 by two CMU alumni, Susheel Khetarpal (BSC ‘17, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine ‘22) and Alex Pomerantz (BSC & IRP ‘17, Harvard Medical School ‘22). The idea for the MSAMP came from Susheel and Alex learning about pre-med mentor programs at their respective medical schools. As undergraduates at CMU, Susheel and Alex took on significant leadership and mentoring roles within our campus community. It is from their combined dedication and commitment to helping the next generation of aspiring pre-med students that they created the MSAMP program. Each year, we have been fortunate to be able to recruit roughly one mentor per applicant (mentee).

The goal of the MSAMP is to connect CMU pre-med applicants entering an active application cycle with CMU alumni attending medical school – typically MS1, MS2 or MS3 – to foster opportunities to mentor the next round of CMU hopefuls. Mentoring can consist of assisting with things such as discussing motivations for entering medicine, how to get the best letters of rec., how to prepare a personal statement, how to prepare for interviews, what schools to apply to, how to draft secondary essays, how to dress for interviews, and how to manage financial aid decisions, for example. Mentor-mentee relationships start around mid-May and last through the entire application cycle, ending around July the following year.

Starting in 2018, Susheel and Alex recruited CMU alumni in medical school to mentor CMU applicants in the 2019 application cycle. They created a short survey for applicants and mentors to gather information such as one’s major, research experiences, GPA, science GPA, MCAT score, 3 most meaningful activities, unique life experiences, type of applicant (MD, DO, MD-PhD…), and state of residence. With this information, they created mentor-mentee pairs that matched interests, experiences, and metrics to allow for the most productive relationships. Starting in May, mentor and mentees are required to communicate at least once per month, via phone, skype, zoom, email or text. At multiple timepoints in the application cycle, the MSAMP coordinators ask everyone to complete a survey to gather information about communication and initial impressions, to identify strengths and weaknesses of the program, and, in the end, to assess lasting impressions and overall effectiveness of the mentoring experience. At the end of each cycle, we then ask mentees who have been successful in the application process to serve as mentors in the next application cycle.

2018: Susheel Khetarpal (BSC ‘17, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine ‘22) and Alex Pomerantz (BSC & IRP ‘17, Harvard Medical School ‘22).  *co-founded by Susheel & Alex

2019: Timothy Gao (BSC ‘17, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine ‘23) and Carolyn Vanek (BSC ‘18, Baylor College of Medicine ‘23)

2020: Prerana Katiyar (Neuroscience ‘19, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons ‘24)

2021: Sanjana Shah (CHE, ‘21, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program at Harvard Medical School '25). Assisted by Isabel Yoon (Neuroscience '20, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania '25)

2022: Cristina Banuelos (Neuroscience '19, MSTP at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

2023: Shweta Gudapati (BSC '22, MS BME '23, Stanford University School of Medicine)

Since the start of the MSAMP in 2018, the pre-health community at CMU has been extremely fortunate to have many alumni dedicate time and energy to mentoring the next generation of clinicians and physician-scientists. Below is a list of the alumni who have given back to CMU. On behalf of the entire pre-health community, THANK YOU for your commitment, passion, and leadership.

2020

Prerana Katiyar°

Joetsaroop Bagga

Yemi Bankole

Sharanya Bhatheja

Isabel Bleimeister

Jonathan Calvello

Julia Carter

Nathalie Chen

Hyunji Do

Timothy Gao

Victor Hsue

Nicole Huang

Susheel Khetarpal

Jenn Kulewski

Amanda Kuhn

Jaehyun Lee

Emma Livne

Cecilia Mastrogiacomo

Luke McDonald

Ruhani Mumick

Rafae Nasim

Joe Park

Alex Pomerantz

Sabah Amer Qasir

Aliya Saffran

Aria Soltani

Amanda Thiele

Victoria Van Benschoten

Carolyn Vanek

Michael Young

2019

Carolyn Vanek°

Tim Gao°

Minnah Ahn

Sharanya Bhatheja

Abhinav Bheemidi

Neil Carleton

Adam Dickter

Hyunji Do

Wendy Du

Victor Hsue

Nicole Huang

Jane Kogan

Susheel Khetarpal

Amanda Kuhn

Emma Livne

Sanché Mabins

Luke McDonald

Ruhani Mumick

Alex Pomerantz

Megan Pudlo

Brandon Rogowski

Tanya Talwar

Amanda Thiele

Victoria Van Benschoten

Alicia Wu

Jamie Yang

Anna Zhang

2018

Susheel Khetarpal∞°

Alex Pomerantz∞°

Ernesto Acosta

Joet Bagga

Wendy Du

Evan Fisch

Nina Hill

Victor Hsue

John Hong

Jennifer Huang

Nicole Huang

Tiffany Lau

Jackie Lee

Emma Livne

Sanché Mabins

Korey Marshall

Joe Park

Niteesh Sundaram

Stephanie Vereb

Nancy Wei

Anna Zhang

 

∞Founders

°Coordinator(s)