Heemali Kamdar, PCOM Med Student
Tawny Sverdlin - November 11, 2019
Heemali Kamdar ’16 attended Rosemont College from 2012-2016 and was a part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine DO 4+4 Program. She is now in her final year at PCOM and is applying for residency in Pediatrics with an emphasis in gastroenterology. Read more about her journey in this interview.
Rosemont College: Looking back at your education at Rosemont College and in particular the biology and chemistry departments, how well prepared were you for medical school?
Heemali Kamdar: When it came to how well prepared I felt during medical school, I can definitely say I couldn’t be more thankful for Dr. Skokotas’s classes. With so many new concepts being taught at an incredible fast rate in medical school, being able to recall the information from immunology, molecular genetics, and microbiology really put me at ease.
The amount of depth and detail Dr. Skokotas taught those classes with really help build a strong foundation that will help any student striving to attend any grad school succeed.
RC: What suggestions do you have for the current students who are interested in medical school?
HK: I think it’s really important for students considering medical school to 1) be sure this path is for you 2) know it’s okay to take some time after graduation to explore new areas of interests before attending medical school. It’s a big commitment and it will make you really understand the meaning of growing thick skin.
I also find it really important to give your best efforts towards your college education, especially with the classes that will help you get into med school - if you prove to yourself that you can successfully master the classes with Dr. Ulrich, Dr. Skokotas, Dr. Wu, and Dr. Dumas, you’ve already completed half the battle to achieving admission into medical school.
They were vital in helping us achieve our goals; if I was a current student at Rosemont trying to get into graduate school, I’d 100% make sure I took advantage of their incredible support and guidance.
RC: How helpful was the research experience conducted at Rosemont to you in medical school and beyond?
HK: The research I did with Dr. Skokotas was very helpful in that it taught me about responsibility over work that wasn’t necessarily a part of a course, it was an outside project that we committed our time to. It also helped with public speaking during many conferences and poster sessions we were sent to present at.
We learned different ways to explain what we did and why it was relevant to the real world to a variety of audiences. It’s important to show graduate schools you were involved in research because it shows your interests in scholarly extracurricular activities, which is important even during and after medical school.
Showing that you are always willing to learn hands-on is an Important aspect many graduate schools look for, and the research opportunities provided at Rosemont definitely helped with that aspect when applying to medical school and residency.