Is Medicine for you?
Medicine is a long-term commitment that requires many years of training. Given this, many students find it difficult to decide whether medicine is the right career path for them. Through this one-week long program, students will gain insight into what it is like to be a physician. Students will have an opportunity to engage directly with physicians who are passionate about their work. Simultaneously, students will get to explore the state of the art UConn Health Center which is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care.
In addition, students will have an opportunity to gain guidance from UConn's Pre-Med academic advising staff. Moreover, students will be provided supervised transportation from the UConn Storrs campus to the UConn Health Center in Farmington. Students will return to the Storrs campus at the end of each academic day.
Sessions Offered
Session 1: June 22 – June 28
Session 2: July 6 – July 12
Course Fees
Format
Residential, Non-Credit
This class is meant to be immersive and students will experience:
- Throughout the week, students will delve into the following aspects of medicine:
- Practice of basic skills
- Exploration of common examinations
- Brief overview of selected topics in cardiology and gastroenterology
- Demonstration of a mock “code”
Schedule at a Glance
7am: Breakfast
8am: Depart to UConn Health
9am – 12pm: Class
12pm – 1pm: Lunch at UConn Health Cafeteria*
1pm – 4pm: Class
4pm: Depart to UConn Storrs
5pm – 7pm: Dinner
7pm – 9pm: Social Programming
10:30pm: Room Checks
*On Friday student will depart from UConn Health after lunch and head back to UConn Storrs to attend a Closing Ceremony from 2:40pm – 4:45pm
Meet the Professors
The UConn Pre-College Summer Pre-Med: Explore the Medical Field course will be taught by various doctors, professionals, and consultants from UConn Health. UConn Health is a vibrant, integrated academic medical center that is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care. A commitment to human health and well-being has been of utmost importance to UConn Health since the founding of the University of Connecticut Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine in 1961. Based on a strong foundation of groundbreaking research, first-rate education, and quality clinical care, we have expanded our medical missions over the decades. In just over 50 years, UConn Health has evolved to encompass more research endeavors, to provide more ways to access our superior care, and to innovate both practical medicine and our methods of educating the practitioners of tomorrow.
Each session will have a lead physician.
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Lead Physician: Session 1, 4, and 5
Dr. Shobhana Pathani is a hospitalist physician at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She completed her training in Internal Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She has a deep passion for teaching as well as mentoring residents and medical students which she explores through her work as a faculty member at the University of Connecticut. In addition, she plays an active role in the success of an annual university summer program centered around providing high school students with exposure to a career in medicine.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Lead Physician: Session 2
Dr. Ashita Mittal is a hospitalist physician at UConn John Dempsey Hospital. She completed her training in Internal Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She is passionate about all aspects of medicine and looks forward to mentoring the next generation of physicians.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Lead Physician: Session 3
Dr. Jin Kim is a hospitalist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at UConn Health and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He also serves as Medical Director of Nocturnists, being a part of the medical staff since the inception of the nocturnist program at John Dempsey Hospital, where he plays an active role in the development of the night rotation teaching curriculum.
He received his undergraduate degree at Tufts University and his medical degree at the University of Connecticut. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at Baystate Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine, serving as Associate Chief Resident in his final year, before moving back to Connecticut to take on his current hospitalist/nocturnist role. He has an ongoing enthusiasm for his role in teaching and supporting medical residents, medical students, and pre-med students, finding each stage of training to be vital in career direction and professional development.
The following physicians, professionals, and consultants from UConn Health listed below will not be presenting every session.
Agnest S. Kim, M.D., Ph. D.
Agnest S. Kim, M.D., Ph. D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Non-invasive Cardiac Imaging and Echocardiography Lab
Director, Cardio-Oncology Program
Dr. Kim provides care to patients with a wide range of cardiovascular illnesses, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, and cardiomyopathy. She has expertise in advanced non-invasive cardiac imaging, including echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac MRI, and vascular ultrasounds. She has a particular interest in the cardiac care of cancer patients.
Dr. Kim received her bachelor’s degree at Yale College. She received her medical degree from Vanderbilt University. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. After residency, she completed a fellowship in cardiovascular diseases at Yale-New Haven Hospital, during which she also obtained a Ph.D. in investigative medicine.
Debapriya Datta, M.D., FCCP
Debapriya Datta, MD, FCCP
Professor of Medicine
Director, Critical Care Clerkship, UConn SOM
Associate Program Director, UConn Pulmonary-Critical Care Fellowship Program
Director, PFT laboratory, CPET Program & PERT Program, UConn Health
Dr Datta is a pulmonary, sleep medicine and critical care medicine physician at UConn Health. She has completed her medical training including residency and fellowship at UConn Health Center. She treats patients with a wide variety of pulmonary disorders as well as patients with critical illnesses admitted to the ICU. Her clinical interests include dyspnea evaluation, exercise physiology, pulmonary embolism and ventilator weaning and ICU outcomes.
She is actively involved in teaching medical students at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine during their clinical rotations in the ICU, hospital floors, and outpatient clinics. She also works closely with trainees- medicine residents and pulmonary–critical care medicine fellows. She is passionate about medical education and has won several teaching awards. She is also involved in medical outcome research and has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national and international scientific meetings to her credit.
George Y. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
George Y. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Hepatology Section, and Herman Lopata Chair in Hepatitis Research
University of Connecticut Health Center.
He graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Rochester, and received an M.D. and Ph.D. (biochemistry) from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at Harlem Hospital, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and received subspecialty training in digestive diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He has been a pioneer in the field of targeted delivery of biological substances specifically to liver cells, hepatocytes. He developed the concept of targeted rescue, targeted gene delivery, an immunocompetent model for HCV infection, and most recently targeted delivery of mitochondria. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the American Liver Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award, and an American Gastroenterological Association/Industry Research Scholar Award, American Liver Foundation Research Prize, American Gastroenterological Association-Gastroenterology Research Group Young Scientist Award, and a Chinese American Medical Society Scientific Award, was elected a Fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association, and the American Association for the Study of liver Diseases. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians, and was a Fulbright Specialist. He has received 10 patents, and founded two startup companies to commercialize inventions. He has published more than 210 peer-reviewed articles, and edited 12 books. He is the comprehensive editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology, and series editor for the Clinical Gastroenterology series published by Humana/Springer Press.
Jennifer P. Kanaan, M.D.
Jennifer P. Kanaan, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director of critical care point of care ultrasound
Site Director, Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship
Dr. Kanaan received her bachelor's degree in biology at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. She returned to her home state to attend UConn medical school. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Rhode Island Hospital, Brown School of Medicine. Following a year at locum tenens where she worked in Alaska, California, and Arizona, she completed a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at New England Medical Center, Tufts School of Medicine. After graduation, she worked as an attending physician at Danbury Hospital and transitioned to UConn in 2007.
As an Associate Professor in Medicine, Dr. Kanaan divides her time between clinical care and teaching. She is passionate about bringing ultrasound to the bedside and has developed an ultrasound curriculum for pulmonary and critical care fellows as well as hospitalists. She directs a statewide ultrasound course for physicians.
Outside of medicine, she is a mom of four children. Her hobbies include cooking, travel, and sports.
Kevin A. Braghirol, M.D.
Kevin A. Braghirol, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Dr Kevin Braghirol is an academic Hospital Medicine physician at UConn Health. He went to UConn for undergraduate studies and medical school. He completed Internal Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the site director for the inpatient Internal Medicine rotation at John Dempsey Hospital for the 3rd and 4th year UConn medical students. When he is not seeing patients or teaching, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, Nikki, and golden retriever, Larry.
Narinder Maheshwari, M.D.
Narinder Maheshwari, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Dr. Narinder Maheshwari is an internal medicine physician at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his medical training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York Medical College. He has decades of experience working alongside patients and families and a passion for research
Rebecca Andrews, M.D.
Rebecca Andrews, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Associate Program Director, Categorical Internal Medicine
Lead Physician Internal Medicine Associates, Farmington
Dr. Andrews received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA before relocating to Connecticut for medical school at the University of Connecticut. She remained at the University to complete a residency including a chief medical resident year. Upon completing her residency, she practiced at a community health center where she served as the medical director and a member of the company’s QA/QI team.
She joined the faculty at UConn in 2009 and divides her time between clinical care and teaching. She is a Professor of Medicine and practicing Internal Medicine Primary Care physician with focuses on health prevention and high quality chronic disease management; chronic pain and safe opioid prescribing; women’s health; LGBTQ+ care; and healthcare policy. She has been recognized for her clinical care as one of Hartford Magazines Top Doctors. Dr. Andrews is the Director of Ambulatory Education and an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. As such, she is involved in the daily activities of the resident ambulatory clinic, mentoring, teaching, and increasing the quality of delivered care. She has developed several curricular innovations such as the office based medicine track, a business of medicine course, and a women's health track for future primary care. She is the director of the specialized primary care training tracks within the residency program. She serves as the physician lead for the Patient Centered Medical Home, the Connecticut Comprehensive Pain Center, and Internal Medicine Associates in Farmington. She is also currently serving as the Governor of the CT Chapter for the American College of Physicians and Co-Chairs the Opioid Task Force at UConn Health.
At home, she is a mom of two kids and has a long list of hobbies including creative writing, running, and photography.