Q: What are you majoring in at Lander College for Women?

A: I am a declared psych major and I am concurrently pursuing the requirements for an honors bio major, although I have not declared it.

Q: How did you become involved with the Pre-Medical Society?

A: I became involved with the Pre-Medical Society when I created it. I personally wanted to hear from doctors and other medically inclined speakers, and since there was no platform, I created one with Meytal Misrahi. We send out a weekly, well-designed email with an interesting article about an advance in research, treatment, or health perspective.

Q: The Pre-Medical Society recently hosted a lecture on the Affordable Healthcare Act, which was led by Dr. Edward C. Halperin, Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Executive Officer of New York Medical College. What prompted your interest in this topic?

A: With all the confusion regarding the changes in healthcare and several articles I read from the New England Journal of Medicine, I began to think, “what are the medical implications of health care? Would budget cuts affect the way medicine is diagnosed? Will doctors be limited in the types of treatment they can perform based on a priority? Will patient care deteriorate?” I heard so much about the political conflict and the consumer advantages and disadvantages, but nothing clear about how the ACA would affect the way medicine will be practiced in the future. It is very relevant to pre med, pre-PA and NP students.

Q: Did you gain new insight from Dr. Halperin?

A: Yes, absolutely. Dr. Halperin has such a breadth of knowledge that he can pull together an answer that incorporates so many angles that he stimulates more questions. Students asked so many questions that we went overtime!

Q: Was it a successful turnout?

A: I would say about 35 students attended, many from the Pre-Medical Society. I met one student leaving the auditorium looking completely lost in thought, and when I asked her about it, she had to pull herself from her thoughts to say: “Sorry, I was thinking about what he [Dr. Halperin] said.” …Needless to say, he has inspired a lot of discussion amongst students.

Q: It sounds like a well-received event! Do you have any plans for future speakers?

A: The point of the Pre-Medical Society is to have speakers and to be a source of information and education for students! Meytal and I are in the middle of organizing some other speakers for next semester, such as a frum female doctor-activist to discuss what it means to be a frum woman, mother and doctor.

I would particularly like to hear about the logistics of the new healthcare which didn’t really get addressed due to lack of time, medical ethics in regards to the geriatric population and palliative care since we are all going to be dealing with many elderly patients when we enter the field, and the advances in the direction of individualized medicine.