Why do I coach?

See above! I wouldn’t be where I am today without the mentors in my life. Recognizing this, I’ve been passing along what they’ve taught me since my junior year at the University of Pennsylvania when I began serving as a Research Peer Advisor for the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships office. Getting students connected to opportunities was enormously fulfilling for me, and my scope of practice included helping students craft applications to national and international fellowships opportunities, resume review, development of goal setting and personal advocacy in the workplace, and practice interviewing. After matriculating into medical school, I began coaching medical school applicants from the ground up with great success. My clients have received interviews at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Penn, and more as well as acceptances to other top tier medical instituions including Washington University in St. Louis and UCLA. I am a firm believer that anyone can get into medical school; it’s all in the way you choose to present yourself. Working with applicants to hone applications that are as smart and authentic as they are is a privilege. I can’t wait to share this journey with you!

Work Experience

Laboratory Technician

Weill Cornell Medicine

June 2021 - July 2023

I am using quantitative assays, high-throughput measurements, and mouse genetics to unravel the functions and mechanisms of action of a circular RNA known as Cdr1as in the brain. High-throughput sequencing has uncovered thousands of circRNA species in human cells and tissues and circRNAs are particularly abundant in the brain. circRNAs are exceptionally stable, with an average half-life of ~20 hours (compared to ~2 hours for mRNAs). This stability is presumably because the majority of eukaryotic RNA degradation pathways, including those recruited by miRNAs, act at the 5′ or 3′ end of transcripts. However, some circRNAs are more rapidly turned over. One such circRNA is Cdr1as, which is highly expressed in the brain, contains 70+ conserved sites for miR-7, and is post-transcriptionally regulated by miR-7. I am concerned with such questions as the following: Where in the cell is Cdr1as localized? How and where does Cdr1as turnover occur? Are similar mechanisms used to degrade other circRNAs? Does Cdr1as play a role in synaptic function?

Project Manager

Leonard Davis Institute of Health at the University of Pennsylvania

September 2020 - May 2021

Project management for the research group of Dr. Kira Ryksina. Organized project tasks, goals, timeline. Completed and submitted paperwork for journal article submission, DUA’s via Resdac, etc.Organized project tasks, goals, timeline. Completed and submitted paperwork for journal article submission, DUA’s via Resdac, etc. https://ldi.upenn.edu/expert/kira-l-ryskina-md

Research Assistant

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

January 2018 - May 2021

- Performed independent data collection and analysis, including statistical analysis, to characterize anatomical abnormalities and physiological defects of Bap1 conditionally deleted mice. - Proficient in murine dissections/handling/mouse colony maintenance, immunohistochemistry, epifluorescence and confocal microscopy, a wide variety of bowel motility assays, FIJI/Image J, Inkscape, GraphPad Prism. Some experience with R, MatLab, and calcium imaging. - Created figures for publication and assisted in writing final manuscripts.

Bioethics Intern

MedStar Health

June 2019 - July 2019

During my time as an intern at the John J. Lynch MD Center for Ethics at Washington Medstar Hospital Center, I was able to observe clinical ethics in the hospital setting and participate in empirical data collection for bioethics research. The internship culminated in a capstone presentation on a topic of my choice, where I chose to speak on the ethical considerations accompanying a lack of cost transparency when making choices in the outpatient treatment setting.

Education

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

MD-PhD, Medical Degree; Cellular and Molecular Biology

2023 - 2031

I matriculated in the University of Pennsylvania MD-PhD program in August of 2023 after receiving interview invitations to more than 18 programs and acceptances from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, the Tri-I, Washington University in St. Louis, and others. As a result, I am well-positioned to provide expert advice to help applicants succeed across institutions varying in geographic location, mission, and interview style. This experience has been further honed by my participation in applicant interviews for Perelman School of Medicine last cycle.

University of Pennsylvania

Bachelor’s Degree, Biology: Mechanisms of Disease

2017 - 2021

At the University of Pennsylvania I pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology while participating in high level biomedical and clinical research. I graduated magna cum laude and received multiple research awards and grants. My undergraduate research resulted in four peer-reviewed publications. As a first generation college student, I worked extensively with the University of Pennsylvania Career Services Office and Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships to position myself as a successful candidate for MD-PhD programs after graduation. As a result, I have a deep, professional knowledge base to draw on as I help students from all backgrounds set themselves apart in this competitive application. I also have extensive interview knowledge as I have served as an applicant interviewer for both the university and medical school.