V o l u m e 5 , I s s u e 6 J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6
M D / MBA S
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Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) offers a joint MD/MBA program with the Jones School of Management at Rice Univer-sity (Rice). Applications are accepted until the fall semester of the second year at BCM. MCAT scores replace GMAT scores. Rice will not accept any student that receives below a Pass in any BCM class. Once the application is submitted, the Jones School of Management will contact the student for an interview. The MD/MBA pro-gram takes five years to com-plete. The program structure is as follows.
1.5 years: Basic Sciences -
BCM
0.5 years: Clinical Rotations -
BCM
1.5 years: Business School -
Rice
1.5 years: Clinical Rotations -
BCM
In business school, students attend all core classes and have
options to take electives. There is a healthcare course that lasts throughout the first year’s Spring semester and the second year’s Fall semester. This is one of the main benefits of the MD/ MBA program because it allows students to understand the busi-ness perspective of healthcare. Students are encouraged to take their Step 1 Board Exam before entering business school because the knowledge from basic sci-ences and rotations is still fresh. Students also may choose to take the Step 1 Board Exam during summer break or winter break in business school. A summer internship during busi-ness school is required and cred-its will be accepted by both Rice and BCM. Students usually in-tern in healthcare/biomedical research and development, mar-keting, or health care policy work (just to name a few op-tions). Finally, students receive their MBA degree after they have completed their MD at BCM.
Rashmi Sreenivas is a third year medical student at BCM and has completed one semester of business school at Rice. Ac-quiring an MD/MBA in the past was not necessarily seen as needed. Recently, this trend has changed, and receiving an MD/ MBA degree has become more of an asset to physicians. Rashmi feels this is due to the increasing involvement of business in healthcare. The knowledge obtained via business school will allow physicians to have more control of their practice. Business school is a nice break from rotations because students
SPECIAL POINTS
OF INTEREST
• Interviews for 2006 PHC enteringfreshmen will be held Friday, March 10, in Houston • The 2006 applicants who were
selected for interviews will travel to Houston on Friday, March 10. • Congratulations to Nicolas
Guerra (UTPA 02) and his wife, Katie, who gave birth to a baby boy on December 15, 2005! • Congratulations to Angela
Par-tida (UTPA 99/BCM 03), who will be Co-Chief Resident of the BCM Psychiatry Residency program for 2006-07!
• Match day is March 16. On this day, 4th-Year medical students will find out where they will be going for their residency this year.
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE
MD/MBA Student Report 1 Summer Research Programs 1 MPH Bound 2 PHC Students Head to Medical School 2 PHC Applicants 2006 2 PHC 2006 Prospects 3-4 New UTPA Course 5 MCAT Preparation 6Continued on page 5.
PHC students are encouraged to utilize their summers to do re-search, gain clinical experience, and participate in enrichment programs. Although UTPA has summer research opportunities, students will benefit by visiting other labs and improving re-search skills to enhance their resume.
SMART (BCM) The Summer Medical and Research Training (SMART) program runs from May 29 to
July 28 in Houston. It offers nine weeks of paid research experience with Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) faculty. This program is geared toward students who are PhD or MD/ PhD oriented. SMART also offers other opportunities, such as a chance to shadow a physi-cian at BCM, or to volunteer during the summer at Texas Children’s Hospital. Students will be housed in dorms at Rice University. The stipend
pro-vided to each student for nine weeks of research is $4,000. Criteria for applicants include at least a 3.0 GPA, enrollment in a university, and letters of recom-mendation. Previous research experience is not required except for first year students. More information can be found on the SMART Web site.
www.bcm.edu/smart/
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PHC A
P P L I CA N T S
2006:
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Dr. Lloyd Michael, Senior Associate Dean of Medical Edu-cation, Dr. William Thomson, Director of the Center for Edu-cational Outreach, Ms. Pam Ferry, Center for Educational Outreach, and Dr. Cindy Wedig, Program Coordinator at UTPA, met in Houston to review applications to the PHC. Dr. Grace Villarreal, Assistant Dean for Admissions was out of town at the time, but assisted in the selection process through a conference call.
There were a total of 144 appli-cants from 43 different South Texas high schools. Thirty stu-dents from 21 high schools were selected to interview on Friday, March 10.
The selection committee looked at high school grades, SAT scores, extracurricular activities,
letters of recommendation, and the personal essays in making their decisions about whom to interview. Volunteer experience is critical in order for a student to be competitive in the selection process. Involve-ment in community service activities is a strong indicator that a student will return to South Texas as a physician. Thus, the committee looks for evidence of community service in the applicant’s essays, extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation. Since applicants to the PHC are committing to an eight- year educational pathway to medicine, it is also important for applicants to have exposure to healthcare and clinical settings and to demonstrate an understanding of the medical profession.
Joey Nichols, a graduating junior, will spend next year in Houston doing work on a Masters of Public Health degree at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health. Joey chose to utilize his senior year for graduate work because public health always has been a passion he has wanted to pursue. Though he knows it will be difficult to balance this work with medical school, he plans to graduate simultaneously from both BCM and the UTHSC program in June 2011.
Eleven of the 12 Premedical Honors College (PHC) students who will be graduating from UTPA in May 2006 have been accepted to medical school. The twelfth is on an alternate list with UT-Medical Branch in Galveston. The 11 students who have been accepted are all planning to attend Baylor College of Medicine for their medical education.
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Joey Nichols accepted into UT-Houston’s MPH program.
SAT scores are only one of several criteria used in the selec-tion process. Since the SAT was restructured in 2005, the selec-tion committee primarily used the critical reading and math scores in evaluating applicants. High school GPA and science GPA, as well as the overall number of math and science credits are also important selec-tion factors. Data comparing applicants and interviewees can be found in the table below. The profiles of the students being interviewed follow, and can provide an idea of some of the criteria used in the selection process.
See pages 3-4 for information about individual Interviewees.
P H C S
T U D E N T SH
E A D I N G T OB
A Y L O RNumber 144 30
Average SAT Critical Reading 532 627
Average SAT Math 562 639
Average SAT Writing 535 613
Average Overall GPA 92.1 94.5
Average Science GPA 90.9 94.2
Average Years of High School Science 5.1 5.4
Average Years of High School Math 4.8 5.2
Average Class Rank Top 3% Top 3%
Applicants and Interviewees — A Comparison
PHC 2006 P
ROSPECTS
Amador Alcides
attends
Shary-land High School and is ranked
number 7 in a class of 457
stu-dents. Amador has completed 28
college hours through concurrent
enrollment and advanced
place-ment (AP), and has obtained
clini-cal exposure through participation
in Med Ed.
Selene Castillo
is enrolled in
Rivera High School in
Browns-ville, Texas. She is ranked number
6 in a class of 454 students. Selene
participates in the Upward Bound
program and Med Ed, and has a
variety of volunteer experiences in
clinical settings.
Jannine Chan
attends Alexander
High School in Laredo and is
ranked second in a class of 534
students. Jannine has obtained
clinical experience as a member of
Med Ed, and through
participa-tion in DocPrep. She speaks three
languages.
Christopher De Ochoa
attends
Los Fresnos High School and is
ranked number 6 in a class of 427
students. Christopher has wanted
to be a doctor since he was in first
grade.
Karen DeSouza
will graduate
from the Science Academy in
May. By then, Karen will have
earned six years of math and
seven years of science credit as
part of her curriculum. Many of
these classes are AP courses, for
which Karen may receive college
credit.
Aaron Flores
attends the Science
Academy in Mercedes, Texas, and
is ranked number 8 in a highly
competitive class of 125 students.
Aaron wants to become a surgeon.
Andrea Kall
is ranked first in a
class of 118 students at South
Texas High School for Health
Professions and participates in
Med Ed. Andrea attended
DocPrep following her junior
year of high school.
Raul Madrigal
will be graduating
from Alexander High School in
Laredo and participates in the
medical magnet program. Raul
received his Texas Radiology
Cer-tification and also is certified in
CPR. He speaks both English and
Spanish fluently.
Neeraj Mangla
attends Mary
Carroll High School in Corpus
Christi and is ranked number 5 in
a class of 471 students. Neeraj
will have completed eight high
school science credits and six high
school math credits by the time he
graduates. In addition, he has
27 college hours earned through
AP examination and concurrent
enrollment.
Evan Perez
will graduate from
Edinburg High School in May
and is ranked number 10 in a class
of 532 students. Evan has
main-tained perfect attendance since
first grade. He has earned 24
col-lege hours through concurrent
enrollment, and has taken a
num-ber of AP courses as part of his
curriculum.
Miriam Renteria
is enrolled at
W.B. Ray High School in Corpus
Christi and is ranked number 8 in
a class of 467 students. Miriam has
earned college hours as an AP
Scholar and has passed at least
three AP exams. She is fluent in
Spanish, English and French.
Bernardo Garcia
attends South
Texas High School for Health
Professions and has maintained a
perfect attendance record during
that time. Bernardo participated in
the DocPrep program following
his junior year of high school. He
speaks both Spanish and English.
Maria Gomez
attends Cigarroa
High School in Laredo and is
ranked third in a class of 320
students. Maria has earned 18
college hours through AP and
concurrent enrollment, and has
volunteer experience at Laredo
Medical Center.
Camilo Gonzalez
will graduate
from South Texas High School
for Health Professions in May. He
is a certified nursing assistant and
also works as a Medline Plus tutor.
Camilo attended DocPrep, and
speaks both Spanish and English.
Reem Husein
is enrolled at
Calallen High School in Corpus
Christi and is ranked number 11
in a class of 313 students. Reem
currently is enrolled in emergency
medical technician certification
classes. She volunteers at Christus
Spohn Hospital, and hopes to
become an emergency room
physician. Reem speaks English
and Arabic.
Ayesha Jain
attends Mary Carroll
High School in Corpus Christi
and is ranked number 13 in a class
of 471 students. Ayesha is an
AP Scholar and has successfully
passed at least three AP exams.
She volunteers at Driscoll
Chil-dren’s Hospital.
J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6 , p a g e 3
PHC 2006 P
ROSPECTS
Richard Reyna
is enrolled in
Mission High School and is
ranked number 6 in a class of 361
seniors. Richard participates in
Med Ed and volunteers at a local
hospital.
Lorena Reyna
attends South
Texas High School for Health
Professions and is interested in
cardiology and cell/molecular
re-search. Lorena has earned college
hours as an AP Scholar and has
passed three AP exams. She
participated in DocPrep following
her junior year of high school.
Carlos Rivera
attends South
Texas High School for Health
Professions and is ranked second
in a class of 118 students. Carlos
participated in DocPrep following
his junior year of high school. He
is bilingual.
Alana Rodriguez
is enrolled in
the medical magnet program at
Moody High School in Corpus
Christi and is ranked first in a class
of 400 students. Alana is a hospital
volunteer, has participated in
DocPrep, and is training to
become a certified emergency
medical technician.
Samantha Saldaña
attends Rio
Hondo High School and is ranked
first in a class of 153 students.
Samantha volunteers at Valley
Baptist Medical Center and wants
to be a pediatric oncologist.
Nidia Sobrevilla
is enrolled at
Sharyland High School and is
ranked number 4 in a class of 457
students. Nidia is an AP Scholar
and has earned 36 college hours
through AP examination and
concurrent enrollment courses.
Nidia is bilingual.
Kiran Sreenivas
will graduate
from Harlingen South High
School in May and is ranked
number 4 in a class of 393
stu-dents. Kiran volunteers at Valley
Baptist Medical Center.
Rosannah Velasquez
attended
high school at McAllen Memorial
for two years and currently is
completing her high school
educa-tion through the Internaeduca-tional
Baccaleureate (IB) program in
McAllen. Rosannah is ranked
number 6 in a class of 449
stu-dents and will earn college hours
from many of her IB courses.
She participates in the Med Ed
program and is bilingual.
Hanyong Yi
is a student at South
Texas High School for Health
Professions. He elected to attend
the magnet school and forego
band and athletics for a college
preparatory curriculum that
emphasizes careers in medicine.
Hanyong attended DocPrep
following his junior year of high
school. In addition to clinical
rotations, Hanyong volunteers at
a local hospital. He is fluent in
Korean and English.
Selina Samano
attends Hidalgo
High School, is ranked first in a
class of 152 students, and has
earned 25 concurrent enrollment
and AP hours. Selina first knew
she wanted to be a doctor in 5th
grade, when she was featured on a
television show, “Kids You
Should Know.”
Melissa Sanchez
attends
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School
and is ranked number 7 in a class
of 520 students. Melissa has
earned 33 college hours through
AP and concurrent enrollment
program. She belongs to the
Premed Society at her school.
Vanessa Sanchez
is enrolled in
Economedes High School in
Edinburg and is ranked second in
a class of 462 students. Vanessa
has earned 18 concurrent
enroll-ment hours and is a participant in
Med Ed. She spent her summer
hours volunteering at a local
emergency room.
Jennifer Sibley
attends McAllen
High School and is ranked
num-ber 13 in a class of 382 students.
Jennifer has volunteer experience
at Briarcliff Nursing home and
participates in Med Ed. She is
proficient in American Sign
Language.
Amy Skaria
attends McAllen
Memorial High School and is
ranked number 4 in a class of
449 students. Amy has earned
27 college hours through
con-current enrollment and AP
exami-nation. She participates in Med Ed
and speaks two languages
SURF (UT-SW)
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program runs from June 5 to August 11, 2006 at The Univer-sity of Texas-Southwestern (UT-SW) in Dallas/Fort Worth. It lasts for 10 weeks, during which time students get a chance to do research in the laboratories of UT-SW Graduate School faculty members. The research will introduce students to the sorts of investigations they might encounter as a postgradu-ate. The SURF program is geared toward students inter-ested in pursuing a PhD. Some areas in which students may get a chance to conduct research are biophysics, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, chemistry, and neuroscience. All student partici-pants will receive a $3,500 sti-pend for the 10 weeks they are in the program. If the student requires SURF housing, the stipend will be raised to $4,750. To be eligible, applicants must be majoring in a natural science degree program and must have completed their sophomore year. More information about this program can be found at the program’s Web site.
www8.utsouthwestern.edu/ utsw/home/education/surf/ QP-SURF (UT-SW)
The Quantitative and Physical Sciences Summer Undergradu-ate Research Fellowship (QP-SURF) program at UT-SW runs from June 5 to August 11, 2006. It is available to applicants who have completed their sopho-more year of college and are majoring in physics, computer science, math, or chemistry. Accepted students will receive a stipend of $4,750. Criteria used in selection of the participants will be college grades, relevant
research experiences, official transcripts, and letters of recom-mendation. More information can be found at the program Web site.
www8.utsouthwestern.edu/ utsw/cda/dept21010/ files/234276.html SURF (SUNY)
The State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, College of Graduate Studies is offering fellowships for its 2006 Summer Under-graduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program. The aim of the SURF program is to expose undergraduate students to bio-medical research. In an intensive ten-week summer program, participants formulate their own proposals, carry out research under the supervision of a fac-ulty member, write a research paper and have the opportunity to see their work published. In the process, students will attend research seminars and partici-pate in discussions on alternative careers in research and how to apply to graduate school. Stu-dents are given ample opportu-nities to interact directly with many of the faculty and graduate students.
The program will be held from Monday, June 5, 2006 through Friday, August 11, 2006. Each fellow will be provided a $3,000 stipend for the period, plus housing in Clark Tower, the residence hall. Applicants should be undergraduate students in good academic standing, who will be between their junior and senior years during the summer of 2006, and are majors in chemistry, biology, or a related field. Applicants must have a strong interest in pursuing a PhD degree in biomedical investigative research. www.upstate.edu/ grad/summer.shtml
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have a chance to explore differ-ent subjects and meet new peo-ple with various backgrounds. Unlike the hierarchal structure of rotations, self-managed team-work is emphasized.
Rashmi decided to pursue an MBA while she was still a medi-cal student because she felt she could capitalize on integrating her knowledge from both a medicine and business back-ground at an early stage in her career. Once graduates begin practicing medicine, it is difficult to go back to school.
Previously, Rice allowed only a certain number of seats for joint program students. Competition for the the program is increas-ing each year due to the ac-knowledgment of the impor-tance of business within the healthcare industry and the conflicts arising between physi-cians and administrators. Rashmi believes the MD/MBA degree combination will be an asset for the future. If you are interested or have questions about the joint MD/MBA pro-gram, contact Melody Miller-Wasik at: [email protected] Five PHC students are getting a
taste of medical school. They are enrolled in the Inquiry Based Science course facilitated by Dr. Wedig. The course is analogous to the problem based learning course that first year medical students must take at BCM. Students receive a case study and attempt to make a diagnosis and prescribe treat-ment. They also seek to under-stand social issues governing the case, as well as how real world factors (such as insurance cov-erage) affect the case. Unlike most upper-level classes, this one does not have a textbook that determines how informa-tion is presented. Instead, after reading the case study, the class determines what they need to learn in order to understand the information presented and de-velop a presentation to teach their fellow classmates about the topic. After the case has been thoroughly explored, a medical student, doctor, or other qualified individual meets with the students to answer any questions about the case and
provide information about his or her experiences. In the first case study, 4th-year medical student Patricia Wawroski met with students and taught them how to read EKGs and how to diagnosis long-term cyanosis. She also answered questions about medical school and apply-ing for residency.
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Pat Wawroski, 4th-Year medical student, worked with UTPA’s Inquiry-Based Science participants.
J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 6 , p a g e 5
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On Wednesday, January 11th, Kaplan administered a diagnos-tic exam to establish a baseline score for PHC students prepar-ing for the Medical College Ad-missions Test (MCAT). The MCAT is taken by thou-sands of premedical students every year. Currently, the exam is administered twice a year, and UTPA offers review sessions in the spring and the summer. The Kaplan program at UTPA consists of 19 lecture meetings and five full-length simulation exams. Students who are ac-cepted to the review program also have access to materials from the test maker (the Asso-ciation of American Medical Colleges) at the UTPA library. “After two lessons, I think Kaplan is a very rigorous and challenging preparatory course
that I believe will more than prepare me to take the MCAT in April,” says PHC Junior Elvis Cavazos. Kaplan pre-pares more than half of all students who apply to medi-cal school. Seventy-nine
percent of people in medical school took a Kaplan prepara-tory course. The course has been offered to UTPA students for six years. Students taking the MCAT should study diligently for the eight-hour exam. “I made a daily study plan, map-ping out exactly what I need to be doing each day to keep up
with the Kaplan program. Be-cause we are still reviewing basic content, my study plan is at least 20 hours per week for now. The weekly schedule should lighten up as the MCAT approaches and we start to take practice exams,” says Joey Nichols.
Good luck to all participants!
P H C M CAT P re pa r a t i o n
PHC Juniors smile during a quick break in the diagnostic MCAT.
LIDERAZGO
UTPA EDITORIAL STAFF Cindy Martinez Wedig, PhD [email protected] Rebeca Cavazos Erika B. Garcia BCM PRODUCTION STAFF Elizabeth Lopez Martha S. Young
PREMEDICAL
HONORS
COLLEGE
The University of Texas- Pan American (UTPA) SCIE 1.312 1200 University Drive Edinburg, TX 78539-2999 956-381-2847 (tel) 956-381-2430 (fax) [email protected] www.panam.edu/dept/biolog y/baylor.html
Baylor College of Medicine 713-798-8200 (tel)
800-798-8244 713-798-8201 (fax) www.bcm.edu
