Public Health Major: ‘I Know This is the Path that I am Meant to Be On’

This summer, Jailene Resto ’26 had the exciting opportunity to take part in the Summer Health Professions Education Program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. A public health major, Resto hopes to pursue a career in medicine. It was, says her professor Alvin Tran, Sc.D., MPH, a wonderful opportunity for her.

“The Summer Health Professions Education Program is a highly competitive opportunity to provide carefully selected students from across the country clinical exposure, healthcare skills, and mentorship from renown healthcare providers,” said Dr. Tran, an assistant professor and director of the University’s Bachelor of Science in Public Health Program. “The program aims to diversify the next generation of healthcare professionals – such as nurses, dentists, and physicians. I am overjoyed that the program selected an outstanding public health student such as Jailene, as she has shown great promise as an emerging healthcare provider.”

Below, Resto reflects on her experience in the program.

Being a pre-medical student is challenging, and being an underrepresented pre-medical student can be even more difficult. The Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) aims to help underrepresented pre-health students reach their goals. I am happy to say that I spent this summer participating in this program.

This program allowed me to meet other underrepresented students who are working toward becoming health professionals. Whether it be in dentistry, medicine, nursing, or physical therapy, we all share a common goal of wanting to go into the health professions. We attended daily classes, workshops, and seminars together, and we got to learn so much from this intensive six-week program.

‘My passion is to go to medical school and become a physician’

Every day, with the exceptions for Fridays, looked pretty much the same. We would have class or study sessions in the morning. I was placed in general chemistry and abnormal psychology, and there were other courses such as statistics, physics, organic chemistry, biology, biochemistry, and anatomy & physiology. After our lunch break, we would come back for general program sessions in topics such as health equity, nutrition, genetics, and so much more.

"The program stoked my passion to go to medical school and to become a physician."Jailene Resto ‘26

Some days we would have track meetings in which we would break up into our respective tracks (medicine, dentistry, nursing, and PT). I attended the medical track meetings, which allowed me to talk to different kinds of physicians, surgeons, and medical students. We would conclude our days with group dinners that ranged from pizza to butter chicken and naan bread. We would get the rest of the day to study, relax, and (my personal favorite thing) explore NYC!

Every Friday, we had the chance to participate in clinical exposure opportunities. This included working in their simulation lab, learning to suture and draw blood, as well as shadowing physicians at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP).

Before participating in this program, I knew that I was interested in medicine. After participating and meeting physicians, I know this is the path that I am meant to be on. The program stoked my passion to go to medical school and to become a physician. I learned skills such as self-compassion that are needed not only to be a good student but a good person.

Jailene Resto ‘26 is a public health major at the University of New Haven who took part in the Summer Health Professions Education Program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center this summer.