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, Dan Barson, Sam Olyha or Jeff Duncan.
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:
- Department-specific requirements (i.e. when to qualify, which classes to take)
- Recommendations regarding PIs to rotate with, or to have on their thesis committees
- 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:
- 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.
- Feedback: Mentors will be asked to give feedback and share general thoughts about the program.
- Mentoring guidelines: How often to contact Mentees, what to do if they ask questions you cannot answer, etc.
- Effective mentoring strategies: How to encourage Mentee participation, how to provide guidance without being discouraging, etc. “
- 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
Matt Alsaloum
Dan Barson
Academic Department: Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
Research interests: activity-dependent mechanisms of mammalian brain development
Clinical interest: neurodevelopmental disease
Other interests: Hiking, snow-sports, my puppy-monster, cooking, traveling, the New York Yankees.
Hannah Batchelor
Jes Cerdeña
Academic department: Anthropology
Research interests: I am a biocultural and medical anthropologist interested in the biological underpinnings of health disparities. My dissertation research focuses on intergenerational trauma in the Latin American migrant community in New Haven, using both ethnographic and epigenetic methods.
Clinical interests: I am generally interested in primary care, whether family medicine, adult internal, peds, or med/peds.
Other interests: Blasting music while cooking colorful vegan dishes, reading novels, singing Broadway diva ballads in the shower, biking with my husband, Ignacio, and playing with my two dogs, Marshmallow & Toby.
Ryan Chow
Pasha Davoudian
Matthew Dong
Margret Erlendsdottir
Sarah Fitzpatrick
Luis Gonzalez
Academic department: Cellular & Molecular Physiology
Research interests: Vascular remodeling after vascular interventions
Clinical interests: Surgery; plastic surgery
Other interests: Board games, video games, strategic card games (MTG), and going to the gym
Sydney Green
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!
Kenneth Gunasekera
Academic department: Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases (Yale School of Public Health)
Research interests: Infectious disease transmission modeling, spatial disease mapping/spatial statistical modeling, cost-effectiveness analysis, diagnostic evaluation, implementation science, pediatric tuberculosis, HIV
Clinical interests: Pediatrics, infectious disease
Other interests: Swimming, running, learning language, Long Island!
Rachel Hennein
Grant Higerd
Yale email address
Academic department: Cellular and Molecular Physiology
Research interests: Cell biology and physiology. High throughput screening and drug discovery.
Clinical interests: Internal medicine, infectious diseases
Other interests: Rock climbing, cooking vegan food, Effective Altruism
Woong Y. Hwang
Academic department: Genetics
Research interests: Genetics/Cell Biology/Nuclear Transport/Wnt signaling
Clinical interests: Pediatrics/Internal Medicine
Other interests: Singing (acapella), Traveling, Fitness
Zach Kloos
Academic department: Microbiology
Research interests: Vector-pathogen interactions, especially those between bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and ixodid ticks.
Clinical interests: Infectious disease and transplant surgery.
Other interests: Cycling, fly fishing, and all things baseball.
Sahana Kribakaran
Katie Leiby
Academic department: Biomedical Engineering
Research interests: Lung tissue engineering and regeneration
Clinical interests: Thoracic surgery and lung transplantation
Other interests: Running, cooking, exploring nearby hiking/camping spots, playing the bells in Harkness Tower
Anna Lynn
Alyssa Mitson-Salazar
Academic department : Immunobiology
Research interests: allergy, mast cells, Tregs, intestinal homeostasis
Clinical interests: internal medicine/allergy & immunology
Other interests: hiking, cycling, cats, gardening, tacos, home improvement projects
Mytien Nguyen
Sam Olyha
Academic department: Immunobiology
Research interests: lncRNAs in the immune system
Clinical interests: internal medicine (possibly heme/onc)
Other interests: turtles/tortoises, hiking, running, rowing, swimming, cooking/baking, podcasts, board games
Tyler Shelby
Taylor Takasugi
Elizabeth Woo
Anchi Wu
Amy Zhao
Sijin (Sisi) Zheng
Cheryl Zogg
Academic department: Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health
Research interest: surgical outcomes, health services research (access to care, disparities, health policy evaluation)
Clinical interest: academic surgery (trauma/emergency general surgery, orthopedic trauma)
Other interests: dance, running, theater, good books, travel