What comes after Peer Advice from Senior Students: “PASS”? The lives of MD-PhD trainees after they have completed their dissertations, move back into the final stages of clinical training, apply for residencies or postdoctoral positions, and graduation are rich with lessons and experiences of immense value to their peers. In the whirlwind of graduation and moving on to the next phase of their training, the opportunities to impart their wisdom, sometimes quite unique (such as applying for residency in orthopaedic surgery, or two-body recruitment issues), are quite few and informal.
In June 2021, former PASS coordinators Alanna Kaplan and Lee Ying proposed to create a near-peer advising and mentoring organization called MPART: Mentoring and Peer Advice from Recent Trainees to make the availability of advice from recent graduates accessible to current students for questions and advice about life after MD-PhD Program training, just as PASS is available to them for questions and advice from peers within the program. By identifying specific recent alumni willing to share their time and stories, MPART will focus on providing peer mentoring to senior students during the final 1-1½ years of their MD-PhD training. MPART members will serve for a period up to 4 years (during their residency years).
MPART members will participate in alumni workshops or panels (via Zoom or in-person if close/in New Haven) in the fall (concurrent with the annual retreat) and/or in the spring (as students prepare for residency applications). Perhaps more importantly, MPART members recognize the value of 1:1 advising, particularly on unique clinical or research interests, lifestyle, and other individual requests.