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Peer Advising by Senior Students

Program Goals

The goal of the PASS Program is to facilitate peer-to-peer mentoring in which senior students pass down program specific (i.e. based on PhD department or clinical interest) information to junior students.

Additionally, the PASS Program aims to provide junior students with an easily accessible academic support system that remains pertinent as they progress through different stages of training, but is also flexible and adaptable to accommodate those who have changed their PhD departments or clinical interests.

For more information, please contact PASS Coordinators Zach Kloos, Jeffrey Duncan-Lowey, Kerrie Greene, Ruchi Gupta, or Elizabeth Woo.

Activities

Fall meeting:

This event will be held in a “speed dating” format. Student Mentor(s) representing different departments will be seated at different tables, and junior students will rotate through tables associated with departments they are potentially interested in joining. In addition to meeting their Student Mentor(s), the Mentees will learn:

  1. Department-specific requirements (i.e. when to qualify, which classes to take)
  2. Recommendations regarding PIs to rotate with, or to have on their thesis committees
  3. Information and tips about longitudinal clinical activities


Spring meeting:

This event will also be held in a “speed dating” format but in a more casual setting. This event will allow Mentors to “check-in” with their Mentees, as well as allow junior students who have changed departments to connect with a new Mentor.


Mentor training dinner:

This mandatory training session will occur once a year prior to the fall meeting. It will cover topics including:

  1. Debrief: The survey results will be presented (see Metrics and Analytics below) and a selection of the “challenging cases” will be presented as teaching points.
  2. Feedback: Mentors will be asked to give feedback and share general thoughts about the program.
  3. Mentoring guidelines: How often to contact Mentees, what to do if they ask questions you cannot answer, etc.
  4. Effective mentoring strategies: How to encourage Mentee participation, how to provide guidance without being discouraging, etc. “
  5. Above my pay-grade”: Discuss situations in which Student Mentors should consult with the Faculty Supervisor, or situations in which they should recommend their Mentees contact a faculty member (i.e. MD/PhD Academic Advisor, Dean Angoff, etc).

PASS Student Mentors

  • Academic department: Neuroscience

    Research interests: Systems neuroscience, reward learning, cortical plasticity, substance use disorders

    Clinical interests: Psychiatry, substance use disorders

    Other interests: Baking, snuggling my two cats, thrift shopping/fashion, music, traveling, self-care, antiracism and DEI efforts, mentorship, Wednesday Evening Clinic, leadership/community building.

  • Academic department: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

    Research interests: Interoception, Neuroimmune, and *my specialty* Peripheral Nervous System x Reproductive Sciences! (Before PhD, dabbled in behavioral neuro / addiction).

    Clinical interests: OBGYN (naturally), Internal Medicine-Cardiology (specifically), Ophtho (maybe)

    Other interests: I've got two spoiled cats that don't listen to me - One with a fickle pylorus and another who cost me $7000 in emergency surgery expenses while I was on vacation. I still love them, I think.

  • Academic Department: Biomedical Engineering

    Research Interests: Medical Image Processing, Deep Learning, AI in Healthcare, Clinical Decision Support

    Clinical Interests: Undecided

    Other Interests: Cooking, Learning languages, Haven Free Clinic, Crocheting, Reading, Horror Movies, Paleontology and Archaeology, Traditional Chinese Art Forms

  • Academic Department: InterdepartmentalNeuroscience

    Academic Interests: psychedelics, synaptic physiology, systems neuroscience

    Clinical Interests: interventional psychiatry, rapid-acting antidepressants, personalized medicine

    Other Interests: backpacking, fermentation, podcasts, coffee

  • Academic Department: Microbiology

    Research Interests: Host-pathogen interactions, innate immunity, biochemistry

    Clinical Interests: Infectious diseases, Rheumatology, Internal medicine

    Other interests: Running, hiking, spending time with my cat, board games, ranking every pizza place in New Haven

  • Academic Department: Interdepartmental Neuroscience

    Academic Interests: Systems neuroscience, Visual circuits

    Clinical Interests: Internal medicine, Ophthalmology

    Other Interests: Penny boarding, Saint Bernards, Musicals, Making paper airplanes

  • Academic Program: InterdepartmentalNeuroscience

    Academic Interests: Brain development, neuroscience, genetics, zebrafish, neurodevelopmental disorders

    Clinical Interests: Internal medicine, psychiatry, neurology

    Other Interests: Salsa dancing, biking everywhere, hiking, dinner parties, theater, cuddling my dog, fermenting foods and beverages, MakeHaven, Wednesday Evening Clinic

  • Academic department: History of Medicine

    Research interest: history of medicine; hospital-based intimate partner violence response programs, anti-carceral feminism, health activism

    Clinical interest: undecided

    Other interests: knitting, live music, all things South Florida!

  • Academic Department: Immunobiology

    Academic Interests: Cancer immunology, immune signaling pathways, malignant B-cell tumors

    Clinical Interests: Internal Medicine/Pediatrics (most likely heme/onc!)

    Other Interests: Taking care of my obscene number of houseplants, running, baking, curating the perfect Spotify playlist, watching hours of seal videos on end

  • Department: Neuroscience, Cellular & Molecular Physiology

    Academic interests: Brain-body interactions, interoception & autonomic regulation, mathematical models in neuroscience

    Clinical: Interested in cardiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology & neurology - to be decided!

    Other interests: Hiking, cats, double bass and classical music

  • Academic department:

    Research interests:

    Clinical interests:

    Other interests:

  • Academic department: Biomedical Engineering

    Research Interests: Engineering polymeric nanoparticles for in utero delivery

    Clinical Interests: General surgery, pediatric & adolescent gynecology, fetal therapy

    Other Interests: Brazilian jiujitsu, dancing, rock climbing, reading

  • Academic department: Genetics

    Research interests: Cancer biology, cancer environmental risk factors, targeted therapies

    Clinical interests: Internal medicine, hematology-oncology

    Other interests: Lifting, running, golfing, watching sports, trying local breweries