Heartbeats

Charles R. Drew Pre-Medical/Pre-Health Society

University of Maryland
Fall 2014

Alumni impart life

lessons on journey
for medical degree
Members of the Charles R. Drew PreMedical/Pre-Health Society had a chance to
find a mentor among a panel of alumni who
have moved on to professional school at the
societys second general body meeting on Oct.
9, which was held in the Jimenez Room in the
Stamp Student Union.
The panel featured students who are
currently in pharmacy, medical and dental
school. Sitting side by side in front of an
audience of more than 121 members, the
panel formally introduced themselves and

In This Issue
Representatives
discuss opportunities
for gap year.....page 2

later dispersed into groups by their fields

of study.
Members huddled around each
alumnus; however, most surrounded
the medical students, which made it
hard for the officers to find space and
accommodate members who wanted to
listen in closely. This did not discourage
them from staying though.
The room set up could have been
better, but the students and panelists really
enjoyed it, said Sammi Ahmed, a Doctor
of Physical Therapy and Ph.D candidate.
Itll keep them coming back for more.
According to presidents Ese Ikheloa
and Meghan Murphy, the goal of the event
was to allow members to connect with the
nine alumni who could offer advice on

Are Medical Schools Diverse?

Fewer minority physicians enter the workforce than white physicians, according to the
Association of American Medical Colleges Diversity Facts and Figures. Below are the
diversity statistics for the most recent entered class at a local medical school that many
members consider for professional school.
Total Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity at the University of
Maryland, Baltimore Medical School, 2013

Members help pack

food for people
with life-challenging

how to get into professional schools.

The diverse panel was for members who
were undecided on their major.
We want to be an organization that
you can be a part of and still have the
freedom to change your mind or path,
Ikheloa said.
The meeting was a kick-off to the
societys peer mentoring initiative.
Members can be paired with older
members and students, and be guided
through the pre-health tracks here at
the University of Maryland.
Members can sign up for the
program by speaking to an officer
or becoming a mentee or mentor on
WiseGuy.com, an online tutoring and
mentoring service.

424

400

illnesses...........page 3
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first doctor......page 4

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Abdul Akbaryeh

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service club.....page 3

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Student starts new

Source: The Association of American Medical Colleges FACTS sheet, Total Enrollment by U.S.
Medical School and Race and Ethnicity, 2013. Credit: Samara Tu

Page 2

Members dedicate day of service

to Food and Friends

Special program
representatives discuss
gap year options
A panel of representatives
supplied information about
special programs that
members could take during
their gap year at the third
general body meeting on Oct.
26.
The panel discussed
options including enrolling
in the National Institutes of
Healths Postbaccalaureate
Intramural Research Training
Award Program (IRTA),
applying for Georgetown
Universitys Special Masters
Program in Physiology and
becoming a scribe.
The panel was comprised
of Dr. Timothy Higgins,
a retired mammalian
physiology professor and
current researcher at the
National Institutes of Health;
Dr. Jennifer Whitney, a
professor of Georgetown

Universitys Special Masters

Program; Marcus Mitchell,
a medical student at George
Washington University;
and Dave Su, a scribe at the
MedStar Southern Maryland
Hospital Center.
Each panelist shared the
same advice for those taking
a gap year: take advantage of
the year to find your passion,
build your medical knowledge
and grow.
Whitney spoke about the
Special Masters Program in
Physiology at Georgetown, in
which pre-medical students
with low GPAs and MCAT
scores can take a combination
of high-level graduate
courses and test with medical
students. The one-year
program is a way to show
medical schools how a student
would do if they were enrolled

Page 3

Representatives from various special programs at George Washington University,

Georgetown University and NIH discuss paths to take during a gap year. From the
left: David Su, Marcus Mitchell, Dr. Jennifer Whitney and Dr. Timothy Higgins.
Photo by Sharvani Naik

in their classes.
If you do any of
the masters programs,
youre going to be more
knowledgeable, more
prepared and more
competitive to be a physician,
Su said.
For students who want
to build their research
experiences, Higgins spoke
about NIHs IRTA program, in
which students commit a year
or two to an in-depth research
experience working with
leading biomedical scientists.
In addition, Su
recommended that students
become a scribe before

dedicating themselves to the

medical school track.
If you become an ER Scribe,
youll work with all types of
physicians, Su said. The things
you learn are incredible. You will
get a passion for why medicine.
The panelists advised students
to use their gap years wisely and
understand that they have plenty
of time to pursue medicine.
Whats more important for the
members who are between the
ages of 18 and 21 is to grow as a
person.
Whatever youre afraid of,
go do it during your gap year. If
youre afraid of spiders, go play
with spiders, Higgins said.

Five members worked together

to pack bags of nutritional food for
people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer
and other life-challenging diseases on
Nov. 8. The group worked with Food
and Friends, a non-profit organization
dedicated to serving those unable
to prepare their own food, at its
headquarters in Northeast D.C.
The volunteers participated
in packing bags of dry and frozen
entrees, which would provide patients
three nutritious meals a day, up to six
days a week. Meals varied specifically
for patients who had dietary
restrictions.
[There were] two best parts [to
volunteering]: getting to bond with
other members and physically seeing
the positive impact that I was having
on members in the community, Susan
Roberts, community service chair,
said. Service events like this are great
because you get to spend time with
other members and learn things about

Ivy Obonyo pioneers new club for Food and

Friends needs

Pre-medical students face a difficult journey into professional school because the application process is
competitive. Below is the grade point average and MCAT score that the average admitted student has at
each medical school in the Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia area.
Average GPA and Medical College Admission Test Score of
Admitted Students in Local Medical Schools
MCAT

John Hopkins

3.89

36

UMD, Baltimore

3.79

32

George Washington

3.76

30

UVA

3.7

34

VA Commonwealth

3.6

30

Virginia Tech

3.5

32

Howard

3.0

22

Information taken from each colleges class statistics webpage. Credit: Samara Tu

Members packed meals catered to patients needs at

Food and Friends. Top picture from the left: Susan
Roberts, Ivy Obonyo and Angie Chan. Bottom
picture from the left: Taylor Jordan and Abby
Yitagesu. Photos by Samara Tu

Making a difference in the community

What does it take to get into these schools?

GPA

each other, which makes

coming to meetings and
other events even more
enjoyable.
The organization
provides free nutritional
counseling and 11 types of
meals, ranging from soft
food to gastrointestinal
friendly food. It serves
more than 1 million meals
annually. Only 53 people
are on staff, so Food and
Friends depends heavily
on its 10,000 volunteers to pack and
deliver the meals.
The high need for volunteers has
tugged at Ivy Obonyos heartstrings.
She plans to start a club at this
university to help meet Food and
Friends needs.
Food is one of those things that
makes people happy, Obonyo said.
Im glad to help [provide for them] in
this way.

Ivy Obonyo plans to make Food and Friends

UMD official by next year. Photo by Ivy Obonyo

Neighborly chatter echoed in the

kitchen at Food and Friends. In the
background, Motown music resonated
through the speakers that hung close to
the ceiling; but for all the volunteers at the
nonprofit, the crunching of paper bags was
the most gratifying sound.
People from all over the D.C. metro
area volunteered to fill brown paper bags
with food for patients with life-challenging
diseases. Each paper bag had a name and a
medical illness, so that the volunteers could
accommodate their dietary restrictions.
Currently, Food and Friends provides
meals and services for more than 3,000
clients a year, but it depends on more than
10,000 volunteers.
Ivy Obonyo was so inspired by Food
and Friends mission that she decided to
start her own club that is dedicated to
meeting the nonprofits needs.
Ten club members would dedicate

three hours to Food and Friends every

Saturday. Obonyo said people could rotate
shifts. If 160 people joined her club, then
every member would volunteer once per
academic semester.
[Volunteering at Food and Friends]
will give [members] satisfaction, Obonyo
said. Personally, I know when I help
someone, I feel good that day. I feel like
they would feel the same way too.
Food and Friends UMD, the clubs
name, will not be official until next year
because Obonyo is in the process of filling
out paperwork; however, she plans to
recruit members of this organization as
well as other students from different prehealth societies.
Despite Obonyos obligations to study
for the MCATs, she is still determined to
make Food and Friends UMD possible.
If you feel like you want to do
something, youll make time, Obonyo said.

Page 4

Chasing the American Dream

Abdul Akbaryeh pursues medicine
to become first doctor in his family
Vice President Abdul
Akbaryeh felt helpless when
he witnessed his grandmother
suffer a heart attack in
Tehran, Iran, in 2007. While
she clutched her chest and
panted, the familys screams
and shouts filled the house.
They were unsure of how
to help her. Eventually, his
grandmother was transported
to the hospital by taxi.
The senior biochemistry
major stayed up all night,
praying for her health in the
hospitals mosque. With time,
his grandmother recovered,
but that event solidified
his decision to become an
ER doctor after years of
uncertainty.
Someday, I want to be
the guy who can help her,
Akbaryeh said. I dont want
to be so helpless when I see
someone like that.
Akbaryeh is the only

first-generation American in his

family who has gotten this far in
pursuing medicine.
He has taken the MCAT,
completed most of the strongly
recommended hospital
volunteer hours and passed all of
the course requirements needed
for medical school; however, the
road to medical school has not
been easy.
Time and time again,
Akbaryeh has faced obstacles
that tested his desire to be
a doctor. The biochemistry
coursework was one of them.
On two occasions, Akbaryeh
received a C, which negatively
affected his GPA. He was
initially upset by his grades,
but he learned a valuable lesson
from it: The grades dont really
matter.
Youll never really know
how things will end up,
especially as a doctor, he said.
You can do every treatment

correctly, but the patient might

still die and things might
still get worse. You need to
persevere through that. You
cant be broken somewhere inbetween and not be able to keep
trying.
Even though he was shaken
by his grades in those courses,
Akbaryeh was motivated to
have a better application for
medical school, which is why
he ranked in the 83rd percentile
on his MCAT, according to the
MCAT Total and Section Scores
for Tests Administered in 2013.
Akbaryeh is still in the

Abdul Akbaryeh overcame many

obstacles while on the pre-medical
track. He is set to graduate in May.
Photo by Samara Tu

running for medical school,

and he hopes he can become
the first doctor in his family.
He said, I guess thats the
influence about being firstgeneration. Everyone looks
at me to be the hope to move
forward.
He has the passion and
the determination to be a
doctor. Even if he didnt
become one, I hope hell still
be in the medical field because
hes suited for it, Gerard
Skuqi, a senior cellular biology
and genetics major, said.

Wear your T-shirt!

Wear your Charles R. Drew T-shirt on general body
meeting days. If you participate in T-shirt Thursday,
send the e-board members a selfie, and they will
post it on social media. Dont have a T-shirt? Buy
one for $15 at the next meeting! It will count for
one fundraising point.

@charlesrdrewumd
Charles R. Drew Pre-Health Society