PULSE Mentoring Program

Looking for support while you continue on your path to medical school? By applying and being accepted into our Post-Baccalaureate Health Professions Program, you can join our PULSE Mentoring Program! Offered in partnership with UCSF Emergency Medicine, you will get paired up with a resident who will help you push past common stresses and challenges in applying to medical school.

What Is Pulse?

Prepare for your journey to medical school.

Understand the challenges that arise.

Learn from mentors' personal experiences.

Support one another through the process.

Empower yourself to excel!

As part of this program, you can join a series of workshops on various topics as you bridge the gap between a pre-health learner and a medical school–accepted student!

Meet Your Mentors

Omid Boozarpour (he/him)

Omid grew up in Moraga and attended UC Berkeley for his undergrad, studying molecular and cell biology, as well as computer science. While a student, he taught chemistry and worked at a cadaver lab. After graduation, Omid spent a year working as a software developer for the Center for Digital Health Innovation at UCSF. Last spring, Omid graduated from UCSF School of Medicine and is now in his first year of emergency medicine residency at UCSF! He is the first in his family to pursue a career in health care. Outside of the hospital, he likes to run, rock climb and watch the Warriors!

Nicole Hohenstein (she/her)

Nicole is from Pleasant Hill and went to Hampshire College (Amherst, Mass.), where she worked and helped run the EMS program. After college, Nicole opened her tutoring business and worked as a medical assistant at a dermatology center in the East Bay. Nicole has done research in spine surgery, radiation oncology and emergency medicine. Nicole went to UCSF School of Medicine and is passionate about working on programs to expand access and diversity in emergency medicine.

Ali Elreichouni (he/him)

Ali is a Michigander who went to the East Coast for college, medical school and business school, and then moved to the Bay Area for his residency in emergency medicine at UCSF. He was a member of the first-generation low-income community in both college and medical school. Ali has helped mentor students through the medical school application process, including information about fee-assistance applications.

Benjamin Solder (he/they)

Benjamin is from a small town outside of San Antonio, Texas. He studied neuroscience during his undergrad at University of Texas at Austin, went to Baylor College of Medicine for medical school and then received a master's in education from University of Houston. Benjamin has done research on LGBTQ+ health topics and medical education around these topics. In his free time, Benjamin enjoys teaching CPR, lap swimming, playing jazz piano, doing yoga and going to drag shows.

Amanda Foote (she/her)

Amanda is originally from Philadelphia and has taken what she calls a non-traditional path to medicine, starting medical school when she was 30. Prior to attending Temple University's Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Amanda worked as a high school counselor and as an ICU nurse.

Katrin Jaradeh (she/her)

Katrin attended UC Davis for her undergrad, then worked as a clinical research coordinator for a year before completing a post-bacc program at UCSF. In 2018, she worked in research while applying to medical school at UCSF. She is very interested in international and immigrant health, as well as mentorship.

Katie DeWilde (she/her)

Katie was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and spent the next 12 years on the East Coast for undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University, a post-bacc program at Bryn Mawr College and then medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She initially studied psychology in college with the intent of a career in psychology/public health, but after working at Mount Sinai for two years, Katie decided to apply to medical school instead. She identifies as queer and enjoys mentoring, reproductive health, finding new plants to propagate and historical fiction.

Joseph Rojo (he/him)

Joseph grew up in Southern California, attended undergrad at University of Portland and after a couple years working as a medical scribe and a barista, he attended medical school at St. Louis University. Joseph has been involved with mentoring and supporting LGBTQ+ and Latinx students and patients. He is currently an emergency medicine resident at UCSF.

Francesco Sergi (he/him)

Francesco is originally from Southern California and attended UC Berkeley for his undergraduate studies. He took two gap years where he worked at Planned Parenthood and then attended UCSF School of Medicine. Francesco is a member of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities. His main interests lie in immigrant justice, DEI, anti-racism and mentorship.

SatKartar Khalsa (they/them)

SatKartar is a first-generation, nonbinary trans individual from Los Angeles. They attended UCLA for their undergrad and then Ohio State University for medical school. They've taken several gap years in their journey, and emphasize the importance of prioritizing well-being and personhood above one's career.

Mariam Hjaige (she/her)

Mariam is originally from Michigan, where she pursued her undergraduate at the University of Michigan and then Michigan State College of Human Medicine for medical school. She is a first-generation college graduate, first-generation doctor and a current second-year resident.

Alexa Lucas (she/her)

Alexa grew up in Southern California and went to UCLA for her undergraduate education. While there, she worked on an emergency-response ambulance as an EMT. She took a year off between undergraduate and medical school, working as a medical assistant, EMT and waitress. She attended UC Irvine for medical school, where she helped develop a social medicine curriculum and spent a few months on two separate occasions in Tanzania working on cervical cancer screening and treatment provider training. She is currently a second-year resident at UCSF.

Elaine Hsiang (she/her)

Born in Taiwan and raised in L.A., Elaine went to Brown University for her undergraduate and studied human biology, gender studies and Portuguese. She spent a gap year with AmeriCorps in Boston, working in youth workforce development. She graduated from medical school at UCSF and stayed for her emergency medicine residency, where she is currently one of the chief residents. Elaine identifies as queer, grew up in a first-generation and low-income household and is passionate about LGBTQ+ health and health equity. In addition to working in the ER, she does public health research in substance use and LGBTQ+ health disparities, and has started numerous mentorship and outreach programs to improve diversity in health care.

Adrian Rhodes (he/him)

Originally from Louisiana, Adrian graduated from Louisiana State University in 1999 with a bachelor's in music performance. In 2002, Adrian received his master's and artist's diploma in tuba performance from the Longy School of Music. His first career was as a classical musician and teacher. Drawn to medicine, Adrian began his second career as an EMT and medic after completing the Lehman College post-bacc program in 2014 and attending medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University at 40 years old!

Katie QS (she/her)

Originally from Montana, Katie attended Smith College. After graduation, Katie did two gap years—one year as EMT and one as a barista—before attending Dartmouth for medical school. She identifies as queer and is interested in wilderness medicine/health, well-being, diversity and equity.