UI Pre-Health Professions speaker event continues with Miami medical student

Shilpi Ganguly, a second-year medical student at the University of Miami, will hold a presentation for University of Idaho students on Jan. 28, Ganguly will talk through the medical school application process and provide advice to potential medical school students and healthy methods to approach it.   

Ganguly will bring a candid approach to the talk and discuss what characteristics make a strong medical school applicant. She’ll use her application as an example for students. In the second half of the presentation, she’ll go over her own experience with cases in medicine outside of the hospital setting.   

The medical school application undertaking can be taxing for the applicant. Ganguly will share resources on ways to avoid demanding aspects that leave a student with anxiety and provide healthy coping mechanisms to use throughout the process. This is inspired by her own experience as a prior candidate.   

“I’m approaching this as preparing people for the realities of what the application process is,” Ganguly said.   

Ganguly will also highlight her experiences as a medical student at UM. Her first year was typical until the latter half of the second year was changed because of COVID-19. The learning conditions have changed dramatically with many of her classes being held over Zoom. The current situation has given Ganguly further appreciation of her goals as a future healthcare provider.   

“It added more value to my life goals,” Ganguly said. “I really can make an impact with what I want to do with my career.”  

The upcoming event is another installment in the Pre-Health Student Speaker Series. The programming is organized by UI’s Pre-Health Professions department. The department supports students’ futures in becoming healthcare providers in multiple capacities.  

 UI’s Pre-Health Professions advise in required courses, equip students with additional experience and help prepare students for admissions into health-related graduate schools. The series is one of the multiple opportunities that provide students with resources within the healthcare field.   

Patrick Mazzocco, a Pre-Health Professions advisor at UI, touched on the motivation for starting the series. The department wanted to allow undergraduate students the opportunity to learn and gain resources from graduate and medical students. The speakers are from all over the country creating a variety of experiences.   

“We’re really trying to expand our connections with UI,” Mazzocco said.   

Mazzocco mentioned another goal of the series is to acquaint other universities with the work UI is currently doing. The program has encouraged networking for students and provides additional resources in building their involvement. It also allows participants a chance to ask honest questions.   

The series started in the latter half of the fall semester in 2020. The goal for spring 2021 is to organize a speaker each week from a different health field. Mazzocco also mentioned the good turn out from the series and the continuation of the programming.  

“Based on the success we’ve had so far, we do want to continue connecting our current undergraduates with current graduate students,” Mazzocco said.  

Ganguly will speak via Zoom on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A.   

You can attend the event using the Zoom link provided on the website. 

 
Sierra Pesnell can be reached at [email protected]