Mayo Clinic Arizona and Barrett, the Honors College, recently launched the Premedical Scholars Program to provide aspiring med students insight into the medical world.
The year long internship program will offer 20 students hands-on laboratory experiences, assistance with their medical-school applications, the opportunity to shadow physicians, a personal mentor and exposure to community programs.
“Education is a big part of who we are at Mayo, and the physicians welcome students to come and are happy to have students to participate in either rounds or surgery,” said Program Director Silvana D’Alessandro.
The shadow program is designed to be flexible and work around a student’s busy schedule. The program directors stressed their interns will always be students first and their academic success is paramount, the program directors said.
“My goal in forming this program is to try and make it as user-friendly for a student as I can,” said Program Director Kenneth Mishark.
The program is limited to sophomores and juniors in the honors college. Applications are still being accepted for the program.
Already more than 100 students have applied for the program.
“My biggest regret about this program is that it’s obvious that supply and demand will be very mismatched,” Mishark said.
Mishark and D’Alessandro said they expect the program will grow to accommodate more students each year.
Biochemistry and physics sophomore Vinicius Knabben said he applied for the program because he wanted to experience the hospital atmosphere.
“You always question what you want to do with your life, and I think this program could help point me in the right direction,” Knabben said.
Students are encouraged to rotate through a variety of areas such as primary care, surgical, emergency room or medical specialty cases.
There is a multitude of shadowing options so students can explore all the medical fields and find what best suits them, the directors said.
Knabben said he wants to become a cardiovascular surgeon and hopes the program will confirm it.
Each student will be assigned a mentor to answer any questions and offer professional advice. Students will get to choose a mentor in the medical or surgical field of their choice.
Sara Stevens, a biochemistry junior in the honors college, encouraged students to apply for this program because of the invaluable experiences and instruction student’s gain.
Stevens was one of the first undergraduate interns selected for a similar program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
“It was the best medical experience I ever had,” said Stevens, who spent two weeks in July shadowing doctors and assisting in surgeries.
“Mayo Clinic just has a different way of teaching physicians how to be a doctor,” she said. “It’s not just about treating this patient as a number. You really put the patient first.
“I have always wanted to be the kind of doctor who makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Part of the program is a series of public lectures on different topics relevant to the medical field.
The first lecture, “Death and Dying,” led by Mayo Clinic chaplain supervisor Patrick Hansen, was held Friday in front of a crowd of about 70 at Discovery Hall on the Tempe campus.
As a chaplain at the hospital, Hansen helps assuage patients’ pain as they enter the final stage of life.
“There is always one thing in life that connects everything else in your life,” Hansen said. “Our goal is to find the one thing that threads a person’s life together and gives it meaning and hope.”
Reach the reporter at lauren.gambino@asu.edu.
