Student Profiles: Fourth Class 2004 - 2005

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Michelle Armacost graduated from UCLA in 2004 with a B.A. in French and Linguistics, receiving Summa Cum Laude and French Departmental Honors. She spent her junior year abroad studying French literature and linguistics at the University of Grenoble in France. In the summer of 2003 she worked in Marketing and Clinical Applications at Stereotaxis, Inc., an emerging medical technology company. She also has experience volunteering on a surgical floor at UCLA Medical Center and in the Post-Partum department at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

Mona Bahouth graduated with her undergraduate nursing degree from the University of Buffalo and master's degree from Syracuse University. Since graduation Mona has been practicing as a nurse practitioner in the neurosciences and is board certified as both an adult and acute care nurse practitioner. She has been most recently involved in developing a program for emergency stroke care at the University of Maryland Medical Center with Dr Marian LaMonte and has been actively involved in both research and education related

In 2003, Kirstyn Brownson graduated suma cum laude from Butler University with highest departmental honors in English Literature. While in college, Kirstyn pursued her interests in the medical field by earning her EMT certification, adapting diagnostic tests for Prader-Willi Syndrome and Angelman Syndrome at H.A. Chapman Institute of Medical Genetics, and studying the history and practices of midwives for her thesis. She interviewed midwives throughout Indiana and completed an internship researching the history of nurse-midwifery at the American College of Nurse-Midwives in D.C. Upon graduation, Kirstyn moved to California to work as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Housing Advocacy Council. Here she gave workshops on budgeting and tenant rights at Monterey County high schools, drug rehabilitation programs, and women's shelters. She also helped extend the agency's services to the community's growing Hispanic population by translating workshop materials and presenting many workshops in Spanish.

Jessica Lee Cabalza graduated summa cum laude from the University of California , Los Angeles with degrees in Economics and Communication Studies. She served on the Executive Board of the Student Welfare Commission and the On Campus Housing Council. As a member of the Advertising and Marketing Team, she presented UCLA's campaign at the National Student Advertising Competition, helping her team win fourth place. Her involvement in campus organizations also included membership in Phi Beta Kappa honor society and Delta Delta Delta sorority. Before joining the Post-Bac Program, Jessica was an assistant to Dr. Norman Shorr, Director of the UCLA Oculoplastic Fellowship program.

Bennett Clark graduated cum laude from Yale University in May 2003, with a B.A. in Philosophy. While at Yale he earned two letters for varsity soccer. For three years he also coached a local boys' soccer team and served as a reading tutor at Yale-New Haven hospital. He spent the summer of 2002 as an intern at the United States Mission to the U.N., where he researched African peacekeeping missions and tracked their political progress in the Security Council. After graduation, Bennett worked as a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., writing human-interest stories for local newspapers and covering state politics for a Pew-funded online news service. Bennett was drawn to medicine by his most recent work experience--as a counselor at a group home in Northeast Baltimore. The home serves adolescent boys from the Baltimore area who suffer from a variety of behavioral and emotional disorders.

Meg Fleming graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics in May 2000.  While at Emory, she tutored homeless children and also volunteered at several soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Atlanta.  After graduation, Meg worked as a financial analyst in the mergers and acquisitions group of an investment bank.  In December 2003, she earned her Master's degree in Real Estate Economics and Finance at the London School of Economics where she received a mark of Distinction for her dissertation on the impact of lake frontage on residential property values.  In addition, Meg has studied French, Spanish, and Japanese and served as a patient care volunteer on the cardiology and liver and kidney transplant units at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

Erica Lynn Fontes graduated summa cum laude from Boston College in 2003 where she studied French and Cognitive Science. Playing both the tenor saxophone and trumpet, Erica participated in the Boston College Screaming Eagles Marching Band, Pep Band and Brass Choir. During her junior year she completed six months of study in Paris , France . In her senior year she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the French Honor Society of Pi Delta Phi, and received the Wendy Berson Language Award for achieving oral proficiency in a romance language. Following graduation, she spent eight months in Périgueux, France as a Foreign Language Assistant where she taught English conversation classes to junior high, high school and college students. In terms of giving back to her community, Erica helped to organize blood drives, volunteered at The Boston Living Center in Boston, Massachusetts, helped construct dams in Cape Verde with the Cape Verdean Student Association of Boston College, volunteered in the Emergency Room of Rhode Island Hospital as a Patient Representative, and served in her hometown church, St. Martha's, as a lector and soup kitchen volunteer.

Pritesh Gandhi graduated from Tufts University in May 2004 with concentrations in International Relations and Economics. While at Tufts, he served as co-chair of the South Asian Political Action Committee, raised thousands of dollars to donate to India following a devastating earthquake in 2001, and subsequently received an Emerging Leader award. Spending a year at The London School of Economics and Political Science, Pritesh directed his studies to the African health crisis and Third World development theory. Yet unable to personally rectify the gap between the proliferation of health-related NGO's and a world-wide increase in complex humanitarian emergencies, he moved to Cape Town to participate in a medical program through the non-profit, CFHI. He rotated through multiple hospitals and clinics, took patient histories, performed life-saving CPR, treated gunshot and stab wound victims, performed cyst removals, worked with the EMS, and provided vaccinations. Pritesh is currently an EMT, and enjoys an occasional (depending on his current level of fitness) pickup game of basketball.

Cristina Geada graduated cum laude in 2004 from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where she majored in International Political Economy. While at Georgetown, Cristina served as a mentor for incoming freshman and prospective students, chaired the Student Government's Committee on Diversity, and acted as president and musical director of Georgetown's first all-female a cappella group. During her senior year of college, Cristina spent time shadowing a pulmonologist and working at a consulting firm for biomedical nonprofit organizations, where she wrote articles for the public opinion column of the American Association of Anatomists Newsletter. She conducted research and econometric analysis on the effect of fiscal decentralization on healthcare provision for her undergraduate thesis, and has done work in Spanish/English translation.

David Goldsmith graduated with Honors from the University of Maryland with a B.S. degree in Psychology.  While at Maryland , David conducted research and defended an honors thesis on gender differences in social anhedonia as a latent indicator of schizotypy.  He was an active campus leader, holding numerous leadership roles within the Jewish community as well as other student organizations.  After graduation, David spent two years working in the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health at the NIH.  Here, he was involved in the investigation of intermediate phenotypes (specifically neuropsychological deficits) to be used in genetic studies of schizophrenia, and hopes to continue on in the medical realm of psychiatry/neurology.  While not involved in scientific endeavors, you can usually find David playing his guitar; he hopes to one day form a Wilco cover-band. 

Phil Hagedorn graduated Magna Cum Laude from Emory University with a B.A. in English in May 2004.  He was awarded the Wolff prize in American Literature for his thesis work on Herman Melville's Piazza Tales.  An All-American Div. III cross-country runner, he ran both cross-country and track during his four years at Emory.  Phil spent his summer months studying German and Austrian Culture in Vienna, Travel Literature and Shakespeare in Oxford and working in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.  Phil is looking to continue his involvement in the sports world through the field of sports medicine.

Tom Hartka graduated cum laude from Virginia Tech in May 2002 with a B.S. in computer engineering and was a member of several honors organizations. In May 2004 he received his M.S. in computer engineering, also from Virginia Tech. While in graduate school he conducted research on simulating cellular automata models with reconfigurable computers. The results of his research will be published at the Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms conference in 2004.

Elliot Hogg graduated from UCLA in 2004 with a B.A. in History and a minor in Political Science. During the summer of 2002, he volunteered as a field worker with Action Aid, a non-governmental development organization in Mombassa, Kenya. The following summer he assisted on stroke and cerebral microcirculation research in St. Louis with the Department of Neurosurgery at Washington University. During his senior year at UCLA he volunteered in the Critical Care Unit of Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, pursuing his interest in medicine and gaining experience in patient care and hospital procedure.

John Holden graduated cum laude from Duke University with a Bachelor's of Science in Economics in May 2001. While at Duke, he served as a crew leader and discussion facilitator for Project W.I.L.D. (Wilderness Initiatives for Learning at Duke), participated as an actor in the annual New Works Festival, and studied finance and monetary economics at University College London. Since graduation, he has worked as a consultant to the Columbia House Company in Terre Haute, IN and has worked as a researcher and analyst in the securities practice of National Economic Research Associates (NERA) in New York City. While in New York City, John also served as a mentor to a fifth grader at P.S. 132 in Washington Heights, and as a patient care volunteer on the liver transplant floor of Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Ravi Kavasery graduated with General & Department Honors from Johns Hopkins University in 2003 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was President of his class, directed the Jail Tutorial Project, Co-Founded a website to facilitate student involvement with faculty research activities, and received the Student Award for Leadership and Service. Ravi was selected for a Luce Scholarship to work in South Korea this year on environmental management projects.

Alisha Lenora Liggett graduated from Columbia University with a degree in African American Studies and Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures. While at Columbia , she participated in several research projects. She worked as a research assistant at Columbia 's College of Physicians and Surgeons, investigating issues related to synapse formation. She also worked as a research assistant for the oral history and multi-media components of The Malcolm X project, a project sponsored by the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia. In addition, Alisha worked as a tutor/mentor to inner-city high school students through the Double Discovery Program at Columbia and a tutor/supplemental instructor to college students at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. Alisha also studied for a semester at the American University in Cairo , Egypt (AUC) in order to fully immerse herself in the culture and language of the Middle East. Her topics of focus at AUC included medical anthropology, where she investigated cultural components inherent in the healing systems of the Middle East and Africa, and the Arabic language.

Daniel Moring-Parris graduated from St. John's College in Santa Fe , New Mexico in May of 2002 with a degree in the liberal arts. While studying at St. John's he was a member of the Santa Fe search and Rescue Team, one of the founders of the school's intramural sports program, the guitarist for the St. John's Swing Band, and the head laboratory assistant for the physics program. After graduating he received a wilderness and urban EMT certification and began work as an emergency room technician at a local hospital in Rhinebeck, NY. Pursuing his interest in working with children in the outdoors, Daniel has spent the last four summers working at a summer camp in southern Vermont where he is the assistant director and senior climber.

Nick Morris graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 2003 with distinction in the psychology major. While at Yale, Nick was a four-year varsity letter winner for the men's soccer team, helping them reach the second round of the NCAA Division 1 tournament in 1999. In 2002, he won the "Doc" Holiday award as the team's unsung hero. He was also a member of Psi Chi, the national psychology honor society, and volunteered as an assistant group leader at a psychiatric rehabilitation clubhouse. In addition, he spent time as a tutor for under-privileged students with psychological deficits. Since graduating, Nick has been a clinical research assistant involved with fMRI studies of endophenotypes of schizophrenia at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital with publications pending. Nick was also the head research assistant on fMRI studies of the effects of alcohol/marijuana on driving performance. He juggled these responsibilities with his continued participation in soccer as assistant coach of the men's varsity team at Wesleyan University.

Andrew Renuart graduated magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a major in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Sociology.  He played four years of varsity soccer and also participated in a number of volunteer activities, including free soccer clinics for local children and a mentor program for at-risk youth on neighboring Indian Reservations.  Upon graduation, Andrew served as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Senegal, West Africa, where his job as a community health volunteer focused on AIDS education, malaria prevention, nutrition, hygiene, vaccination programs, and youth leadership activities.

Sophia Swanson graduated with general and departmental honors from the University of Chicago in 2001 with a degree in Anthropology. After graduation Sophia worked as both an English Teacher and a Documentary Filmmaker in South Korea before returning to the States in 2002. In the following year she worked on a two-hour biography of the Scientist/ Medical Pioneer Percy Julian for WGBH/NOVA. She also conducted research regarding mite infestation and farming productivity for the Entomology Department of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 2004 Sophia worked for the film distribution company KINO International, while contributing to a broad range of film and television productions including independent films (such as "At Night"), documentaries ("Edison"), and commercials ("Verizon Wireless", "Ameritrade", etc.).

Jenny Werthman graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in science and nursing. During her time at Johns Hopkins she participated in various clinical activities which furthered her interest in medicine, including a teaching project of Healthy Sexual Decision making for Tench Tilghman Middle School in Baltimore City. Prior to graduation Jenny was a teaching assistant at JHUSON as well as clinical nursing intern on a medical surgical unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital . Jenny received the Dorothy S. Hoehl scholarship award in 2004 from Presbyterian University Hospital Nursing Alumni Association for senior nursing students and was recently inducted into "Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing."

Edward Wicht practiced law in Washington , D.C. for seven years prior to joining the post-bac program. Five and a half of those years were spent representing individuals and companies involved in various types of civil and criminal cases, including numerous government investigations. In the wake of the corporate accounting scandals of 2001 and 2002, Ed served as Senior Counsel at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, where Ed was responsible for conducting investigations of possible violations of federal securities law. Ed graduated summa cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis in 1995 and received an LL.M degree with highest honors from the George Washington University School of Law in 1997. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Southern Indiana in 1992. Ed is particularly interested in the clinical practice of medicine and spent over a year volunteering part time in a Washington, D.C. internist's office prior to matriculating.

Jonathan Wood graduated Cum Laude from Northwestern University in March 2004 with a degree in Computer Engineering, a concentration in very large scale integrated circuits, and a certificate for his experience and leadership in business. In school he worked with Motorola to develop circuits to compress video for data transmission as well as reprogrammable integrated circuits. He participated in a co-operative education program which allowed him to work half the year in industry at companies such as Agilent Technologies and PCTEL, Inc. Besides taking classes, Jonathan worked as a radio engineer at WNUR, Northwestern's student run radio station, was a member of several engineering honor societies, volunteered at local hospitals, and during his junior and senior years tutored engineering students. Since graduation, he has worked as an independent contractor at PCTEL, Inc., developing new wireless networking technologies for use in business.

Ariel Williams graduated from Yale University in 2003 with a degree in Philosophy. She was a gold medalist in competitive international figure skating. She interned with Senator Joseph Lieberman. For a year before attending the Post-Bac Program, Ariel was a Research Assistant at the Johns Hopkins Bioethics Institute. She has been involved with volunteer work at a local rescue mission.

Graduating magna cum laude in 2002 from Brandeis University, Jason Zhang received a B.S. degree in Computer Science with highest departmental honors. As an undergraduate, Jason was a student researcher in the Medstract research group, which uses computer data-mining to automatically derive genetic information and protein interactions from MEDLINE articles. During his junior year, his proposal to use memory-based learning for the extraction of bio-relevant entities from medical text won the Nathan Richter Award for Research Excellence. In May of 2004, he received a M.S. degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. While at CMU, Jason conducted research with the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) to develop robust synthetic voices using current technologies in speech synthesis and machine learning. His work resulted in several conference and workshop publications. In particular, his work on project ESPER, which involved creating prosodic and emotive voices to read children's stories, was presented at the 2003 Euro speech International Conference in Geneva . Before joining the Post-Bac class, Jason participated in the UPMC Shadyside Volunteer Program, where he worked in the ER and the Day of Admission Surgery (DAS).