My Denali College Mentoring Group

In the medical school we are 'sorted' (by the random number generator) into smaller 'colleges' which act as our sort-of family within the medical school. There are 5 colleges named for each of the WWAMI states: Rainer = Washington, Big Sky = Montana, Wind River = Wyoming, Snake River = Idaho, and Denali = Alaska. Within each college you get a 'mentoring group' which consists of a medical school faculty member and 6 first year medical school students.

I was sorted into Denali College which is, of course, the coolest and best college! (My third year roommates are also in Denali College). My faculty mentor is named Sam and he is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Harborview Medical Center (sometimes he works at Children's Hospital when they need him). Sam is really busy right now because his wife (who is also a physician) is working in a clinic in Zambia for the month.

Back row, from left to right: Sam (our mentor), Avi, Tara, me. Sarah is sitting in front. I am really lucky because everyone in my mentoring group is super nice. We had our first 'meet your mentor' meeting yesterday morning at Burgermaster in University Village. It was really fun to meet everyone hear everyone's dreams and plans.

Tara is really nice and has travelled all over the world. She is married to a 'starving artist' who designs furniture and Tara wants to do some work internationally.

Sarah is engaged and her wedding is scheduled for this November. She is an MD/PhD student which means she will be in medical school and graduate school for 8 years, but will have both an MD degree and a PhD when she graduates. It also means that she is brilliant (because only amazingly smart people get accepted to the MD/PhD program) and that her schooling is completely free and she gets a living stipend.

Avi is also really nice. He likes to do sporty type stuff and he has a long-term girl friend.

There are also 2 other first year students in our mentor group that we haven't met yet. They are WWAMI students who are doing their 1st year in Alaska.

During second year, the 6 of us will spend one morning per week following around Sam in a hospital. This is part of the UW's emphasis on bedside teaching thing.