How to Pre-Health at Tech is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:

• Alonzo Whyte, faculty member, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, and development leader in the School of Biological Sciences
• Ritika Chanda, fourth-year neuroscience undergraduate with dual-minors in health and medical sciences and leadership studies
• Jeffrey Kramer, first-year biology undergraduate
• Jenna Nash (NEUR '21), physician assistant graduate student

From the moment Charles Winter stepped onto campus freshman year, he was ready to use his time at Georgia Tech to prepare for a pre-health career. Over the next four years, engaging classes, global study, extracurricular activities, and research with a number of supportive professors paved the way for his current career as an anesthesiologist assistant. 

At Georgia Tech, Winter shares that while success was a struggle, through studying in the Library and leaning on the support of professors and peers, he successfully entered graduate school and kick-started his career. He shares with the College of Sciences how he did it all – and what he’s up to today.

Here are Winter’s recommendations for “How to Pre-Health” at Georgia Tech:

Q: What degree did you receive from Georgia Tech and when did you graduate? Where did you go to graduate school after graduation?

A: I received my Bachelor of Science in Biology from Georgia Tech in 2012. I attended South University in Savannah, Georgia and graduated with my Master of Medical Science in Anesthesia in 2016.

Q: What were your extracurricular activities at Georgia Tech?

A: I did Crew my first year, and I spent a good amount of time at the Campus Recreation Center. I really enjoyed it, but I eventually decided to do intramural sports instead. I studied abroad in London for a full year after that (doing undergraduate research and taking classes) at the University College of London. I received the STAR award, a scholarship found via the Office of Internal Education, in 2010 for a project called "Keeping a Tab on Hope," where I would locally source tabs from cans to upcycle while raising awareness on lowering one's carbon footprint. My third and fourth year I did undergraduate research for various labs: professor Francesca Storici in 2011, professor Philip Santangelo in 2011, and professor J. Todd Streelman in 2012.

Q: Why did you decide to pursue a pre-health career at Georgia Tech?

A: I was pre-health from the moment I stepped onto campus. I planned out all the prerequisites I'd need to take over the next four years as well as relevant extracurriculars and service projects. I had a plan, but I didn't have a mission. “What's the primary reason why you're doing all this work? Will this career path make you happy? Are you doing this because all your peers are as well?” These were hard questions I had to answer during my time at Georgia Tech. 

My early medical shadowing motivated me to continue the pre-health career. It showed me that I could make a positive impact in someone's life in real time. I would urge anyone in the pre-health career track to do medical shadowing as soon as possible.

Q: What resources did you use at Georgia Tech to support your career aspirations, such as clubs, advisors, or professors?

A: I want to thank Paul Fincannon, assistant dean Jennifer Leavey, and associate professor Matthew Torres. Without these individuals, I wouldn't be where I am today. Paul Fincannon was my undergraduate advisor for biomedical engineering. He had a candid conversation with me, telling me if I wanted to pursue my pre-health goals, I needed to adjust my trajectory to hit that target. I took his advice, and I changed my major to biology. My undergraduate advisor for biology was assistant dean Jennifer Leavey. She was a wealth of knowledge throughout my remaining years at Georgia Tech. She opened the doors to medical shadowing at Piedmont Hospital, where I learned about the various programs for anesthesiologist assistants. Finally, associate Professor Torres offered me advice and a position in his lab during the time between graduation from Georgia Tech and entrance into the South University anesthesia program.

Q: What role do you hold today, and what does your typical routine look like?

A: I am an anesthesiologist assistant, and I work at a hospital in the metro Atlanta area. I work as part of a “4-1 care team model,” where an anesthesiologist supervises four anesthetists in the clinical care setting. My shift can vary, depending on the department I'm assigned to that day. I'll do anesthesia for neurovascular, orthopedic, abdominal, and other various cases. In the morning we prepare for our first case with our anesthesiologist, discussing the various aspects of our anesthesia care plan, which is tailored to each patient. We're in the operating room or procedural area during the whole time anesthesia is administered, and we finally hand off to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) or relevant post-procedure care area when the case is complete. You get to see your positive impact on patients every day, and it's such a good feeling.

Q: How did Georgia Tech prepare you for your career?

A: Georgia Tech is tough. I had classmates that could breeze through undergrad with straight A's. That definitely wasn't me. I had to work hard for my grades. I spent a majority of my evenings and weekends in the Library or Student Commons studying. Georgia Tech increased my mental fortitude by making me comfortable under stressful situations. I realized early on that if I wanted to have a career in medicine, and finally, anesthesia. then I had to work as hard as I possibly could now to do that.

You realize when you get into college the terrifying truth that you're responsible for your future. You have to schedule your activities and parties around your studies, and you have to plan both short-term and long-term. Georgia Tech helped me become a self-motivated individual. Talk to the teachers. Talk to the teaching assistants. Ask for help from your classmates. I want to thank senior academic professional Edwin Greco for getting me through physics. He and his teaching assistants were amazing, and they took the time to explain everything to me during office hours. All of the College's resources are there, but you have to want to use them.  

Q: What advice do you have for current Georgia Tech pre-health students?

A: If you're doing pre-health, then you don't have to choose the “hardest” major. I made it into anesthesia as a biology student. You just have to perform really well in your prerequisites. Most (not all) parties and events can wait. Allocate your time wisely. You may think you have all the time in the world in undergrad, but it has a way of disappearing rather quickly. Finally, take advantage of every single opportunity you can at Georgia Tech, whether it's an undergraduate advisor or research position. 

Q: What are some of your favorite Tech memories?

A: I did write President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough when I was in undergrad, asking him for advice and what he liked the most about his time there. He had recently left Georgia Tech to start his position as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. I was more than surprised to find he not only read my letter, but he also wrote back! He said that it's the people there that have made it the amazing institution it is today, and he encouraged me to work hard. That letter motivated me along with the individuals previously mentioned. 

I also was an extra for “The Internship” when they were filming on campus, and I got into the final cut of the film! I'm in one of the Quidditch scenes, cheering on some of the players. That was pretty fun. 

Overall, Georgia Tech played a major role in who I am today, and I am grateful for that.

Winter spoke about his experience as a frontline healthcare worker to the Alumni Magazine in their On The Front Lines of A Pandemic feature.

From the muscle fibers that move us to the enzymes that replicate our DNA, proteins are the molecular machinery that makes life possible.

Protein function heavily depends on their three-dimensional structure, and researchers around the world have long endeavored to answer a seemingly simple inquiry to bridge function and form: if you know the building blocks of these molecular machines, can you predict how they are assembled into their functional shape?

This question is not so easy to answer. With complex structures dependent on intricate physical interactions, researchers have turned to artificial neural network models – mathematical frameworks that convert complex patterns into numerical representations – to predict and “see” the shape of proteins in 3D.

In a new paper published in Nature Communications, researchers at Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory build upon one such model, AlphaFold 2, to not only predict the biologically active conformation of individual proteins, but also of functional protein pairings known as complexes.

The work could help researchers bypass lengthy experiments to study the structure and interactions of protein complexes on a large scale, said Jeffrey Skolnick, Regents’ Professor and Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in the School of Biological Sciences and one of the corresponding authors of the study, adding that computational models such as these could mean big things for the field. 

If these new computational models are successful, Skolnick said, “it could fundamentally change the way biological molecular systems are studied.”

Primed for Protein Prediction

Created by London-based artificial intelligence lab DeepMind, AlphaFold 2 is a deep learning neural network model designed to predict the three-dimensional structure of a single protein given its amino acid sequence. Skolnick and fellow corresponding author, Mu Gao, senior research scientist in the School of Biological Sciences, shared that the Alphafold 2 program was highly successful in blind tests occurring at the 14^th iteration of the Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction, or CASP14, a bi-annual competition where researchers around the globe gather to put their computational models to the test. 

“To us, what is striking about AlphaFold 2 is that it not only makes excellent predictions on individual protein domains (the basic structural or functional modules of a protein sequence), but it also performs very well on protein sequences composed of multiple domains,” Skolnick shared. And so with the ability to predict the structure of these complicated, multi-domain proteins, the research team set out to determine if the program could go a little further. 

“The physical interactions between different [protein] domains of the same sequence are essentially the same as the interactions gluing different proteins together,” Gao explained. “It quickly became clear that relatively simple modifications to AlphaFold 2 could allow it predict the structural models of a protein complex.” To explore different strategies, Davi Nakajima An, a fourth-year undergraduate in the School of Computer Science, was recruited to join the team’s effort.

Instead of plugging in the features of just one protein sequence into AlphaFold 2 per its original design, the researchers joined the input features of multiple protein sequences together. Combined with new metrics to evaluate the strength of interactions among probed proteins, their new program AF2Complex was created.

Charting New Territory

To put AF2Complex to the test, the researchers partnered with the high-performance computing center, Partnership for an Advanced Computing Environment (PACE), at Georgia Tech, and charged the model with predicting the structures of protein complexes it had never seen before. The modified program was able to correctly predict the structure of over twice as many protein complexes as a more traditional method called docking. While AF2Complex only needs protein sequences as input, docking relies on knowing individual protein structures beforehand to predict their combined structure based on complementary shapes.

“Encouraged by these promising results, we extended this idea to an even bigger problem, which is to predict interactions among multiple arbitrarily chosen proteins, e.g., in a simple case, two arbitrary proteins,” shared Skolnick.

In addition to predicting the structure of protein complexes, AF2Complex was charged with identifying which of over 500 pairs of proteins were able to form a complex at all. Using newly designed metrics, AF2Complex outperformed conventional docking methods and AlphaFold 2 in identifying which of the arbitrary pairs were known to experimentally interact.

To test AF2Complex on the proteome scale, which encompasses an organism’s entire library of the proteins that can be expressed, the researchers turned to the Summit Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, the world’s second largest supercomputing center. “Thanks to this resource, we were able to apply AF2Complex to about 7,000 pairs of proteins from the bacteria E. coli,” Gao shared. 

In that test, the team’s new model not only identified many pairs of proteins known to form complexes, but it was able to provide insights into interactions “suspected but never observed experimentally,” Gao said. 

Digging deeper into these interactions revealed a potential molecular mechanism for protein complexes that are particularly important for energy transport. These protein complexes are known to carry hemes, essential metabolites giving blood dark red color. Using AF2Complex’s predicted structural models, Jerry M. Parks, a senior research and development staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a collaborator in the study, was able to place hemes at their suspected reaction sites within the structure. “These computational models now provide insights into the molecular mechanisms for how this biomolecular system works,” Gao said. 

“Deep learning is changing the way one studies a biological system,” Skolnick added. “We envision methods like AF2Complex will become powerful tools for any biologist who would like to understand molecular mechanisms of a biosystem involving protein interactions.”

AF2Complex is an open-source tool available to the public and can be downloaded here.

This work was supported in part by the DOE Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (DOE DE-SC0021303) and the Division of General Medical Sciences of the National Institute Health (NIH R35GM118039). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29394-2

Georgia Tech will celebrate its 25th annual Earth Day with a 4-day schedule of events. The celebration kicks off Monday, April 18, with a keynote event featuring Vice President for Infrastructure and Sustainability Maria Cimilluca. She will share her inspiring vision for the future of sustainability at Georgia Tech. 

"The Institute's strategic plan asks us to envision an institution that leverages its unmatched scale and resources to address the most crucial challenges of our time,” Cimilluca said. “I see the Institute's sustainability plan as one of the many pathways for collaboration, innovation, and action that will lead us toward transformations in research, applied technologies, culture, and ultimately a more sustainable future."

Georgia Tech first celebrated Earth Day in 1997. For many years the celebration was a one-day, afternoon event. In 2020, it was expanded but held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Held in person last year, the event featured The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design’s Living Building Certification by the International Living Futures Organization, and President Cabrera cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the EcoCommons. These two areas on campus represent Georgia Tech’s commitment to sustainability and serve as living, learning laboratories for students, faculty, and staff.

Event co-chairs Anne Rogers, associate director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, and Emma Brodzik, campus sustainability project manager, have planned a strong lineup of events for this 25th anniversary. From a bike ride with President Cabrera, to a waste audit of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, to a bird walk and tree planting, this year’s “Down to Earth” event offers many opportunities to celebrate nature and learn about new and innovative ways to protect and preserve our planet.

As is the tradition, this year’s theme and logo were chosen from a student design contest. The winner, Abhinav Thukral, is a graduate student in human and computer interaction. “I think it’s incredibly important to be aware of how our activities affect the planet and to learn sustainable ways to progress as a community,” Thukral said. “Earth Day is essential to reflect on some of the environmental issues we face today and how we might work together to address them.”

Students have often requested to work with campus operations to manifest positive environmental change by engaging with the staff of Infrastructure and Sustainability. This unit is responsible for providing sustainable, safe, and well-maintained campus facilities. For example, recent Carbon Reduction Challenge winners aided in implementing the replacement of existing fluorescent lighting with LED in a wing of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience building. By working with the Building Engineering and Energy Strategies department, this improvement will yield more than 250,000 pounds of carbon dioxide reduction per year. Another area where students are proactive is recycling. When the need for acrylic shields lessened as the intensity of the pandemic waned, student volunteers from the Office of Minority Education assisted campus staff in collecting 800 pounds of acrylic and PVC for recycling.

These types of student-led collaborative efforts are encouraged. If your organization or class would like to collaborate with Infrastructure and Sustainability, use this form to get started.  

Georgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) 2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards totaling almost $14 million. The highly competitive government program supports interdisciplinary teams of investigators developing innovative solutions in DoD interest areas. This year, the DoD awarded $195 million to 28 research teams across the country.

Georgia Tech’s MURIs are both primarily within the School of Physics. First, Simon Sponberg, a Dunn Family Associate Professor of Physics and Biological Sciences, leads a team discovering how animals strategically use sensing and cognition to make decisions in complex environments. The project, Fast, Lexicographic Agile Perception Integrates Decision and Control in a Spike-Resolved, Sensorimotor Program (FLAP), specifically addresses the  core DoD topic area of understanding neural systems integration for competent autonomy in decision and control.

“We have all these great, sophisticated algorithms for processing big data, but an animal doesn't have time to process a million samples of its environment and then figure out what’s a predator,” said Sponberg.

Studying moths for their agile, sophisticated flying and complex sensing abilities, the team will record electrical activity in the brain to determine how the moths make decisions and use natural language processing techniques to see how a moth derives meaning from sensory cues and movements. The goal is to develop an information processing framework that enables quick, flexible decision-making that could facilitate the next generation of autonomous bio-inspired systems and better integrate living systems with engineered technologies

The interdisciplinary nature of the team makes complex research possible. Half the team is made of experimentalists: Sponberg specializes in sensors connected to motor systems with precisely timed signals; Jeff Riffell, a professor at the University of Washington, studies how the nervous system processes sensory signals to control behavior; and as a vision neuroscientist at Florida International University, Jamie Theobald, determines how animals parse complex environments. The other half of the team will build the framework: Duke Professor Vahid Tarokh models complex datasets, Georgia Tech School of Mathematics Assistant Professor Hannah Choi focuses on neural networks, and Cornell Professor Silvia Ferrari ties it all together as a control theorist embedding control in neural structures.

“MURIs were originally training grants for the DoD to develop the next generation of scientists who would make progress,” said Sponberg. “This funding will allow us to have postdocs and graduate students across all six labs and disciplines working together tightly and creating a community.”

For the second MURI, Programming Multistable Origami and Kirigami Structures via Topological Design, Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Zeb Rocklin is part of a team exploring a new class of origami- and kirigami-inspired flexible, lightweight structures capable of transitioning between many stable shapes to perform different tasks or adapt to changing environmental conditions. These structures could be used in a range of applications, from multifunctional robots and collapsible antennae to rapidly assembled bridges and temporary structures, and force protection elements like origami-inspired bulletproof shields.

The team combines experts in mathematics, physics, material science, mechanics, robotics, numerical modeling, and computation, including Harvard University Professors Katie Betoldi, Jennifer Lewis, L. Mahadevan, and Robert Wood, as well as University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Eleni Katifori

The researchers will develop mathematical models to characterize and design the complex mechanical behavior of multi-stable origami and kirigami structures; new scale-spanning manufacturing processes that efficiently integrate actuation and sensing; and experimental test beds to serve as a platform for evaluation and optimization of design concepts.

"This project benefits from Georgia Tech's ability to develop tight, powerful connections between engineering advanced technologies and developing universal, mathematically rigorous physical theories,” Rocklin said. “We'll be starting from concepts that anyone can get a sense of by looking at or feeling a piece of origami and using robotics and multifunctional 3D printing to create complex, flexible and robust dynamical structures that can do things nobody has ever seen before."

As the end of the school year approaches, recognition of exceptional work across research, teaching, administration, and community building took center stage at Harrison Square on April 14 at the College of Sciences Spring Sciences Celebration.

“Our annual celebration is a welcomed tradition in the College,” shared Susan Lozier, dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. “As we greet new members of faculty, recognize excellence and service in research and teaching, and affirm our special community of staff and faculty, we thank the generous alumni and friends who help make these awards possible.”

In addition to annual awards honoring faculty development and mentoring, this year’s ceremony featured new accolades for staff members, made possible by funding from the Betsy Middleton and John Sutherland Dean’s Chair endowment — as well as a trio of awards recognizing exceptional contributions from postdoctoral fellows and research scientists, established through the advocacy of the College’s Research Faculty Advisory Council.

Faculty Development Awards

The Cullen-Peck Fellowship Awards, established by Frank Cullen (‘73 Math, MS ‘76 ISyE, PhD ‘84 ISyE) and Elizabeth (Libby) Peck (‘75 Math, MS ‘76 ISyE), to recognize mid-career faculty pursuing highly innovative research:

• Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev, associate professor, Psychology

• Molei Tao, associate professor, Mathematics

• Pamela Peralta-Yahya, associate professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

The Gretzinger Moving Forward Award, endowed by Ralph Gretzinger (‘70 Math) and named to honor his late wife Jewel, recognizing the leadership of school chairs and senior faculty members who have played a pivotal role in diversifying faculty composition, creating a family friendly work environment, and providing a supportive culture for junior faculty:

• Greg Huey, chair and school professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

The Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, endowed by Charles Crawford (‘71 Math) to recognize exemplary teaching in lower-division foundational courses by faculty in the early stages of their career — and to honor a late faculty member in the School of Mathematics, professor Eric R. Immel, who greatly influenced Crawford’s undergraduate experience at Tech:

• Alonzo Whyte, academic professional in Biological Sciences, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience 

• Peter Yunker, assistant professor, Physics

The Leddy Family Dean’s Faculty Excellence Award, established by Jeff Leddy (’78 Physics) and Pam Leddy to support a faculty member at the associate professor level with proven accomplishments in research and teaching:

• William (Will) Ratcliff, associate professor in Biological Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences program

The Faculty Mentor Award, established jointly by the College of Sciences and the Georgia Tech ADVANCE Program and presented to exemplary senior faculty who help new faculty advance in their careers as they learn to balance their roles as researchers, teachers, and advisors to their own graduate students and postdoctoral researchers:

• Sung Ha Kang, professor, Mathematics

• Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, professor and associate chair, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

• Loren Williams, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Research Faculty Awards

The Outstanding Junior Research Faculty Award and Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Award recognize postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have made exceptional research contributions with significant impact on their field of study:

Outstanding Junior Research Faculty Award

• Gina R. Lewin, postdoctoral fellow in Marvin Whiteley’s research group, Biological Sciences

Outstanding Senior Research Faculty Award

• Anton S. Petrov, research scientist II and co-investigator of the Center for the Origins of Life in Loren Williams’ research group, Chemistry and Biochemistry

The Research Faculty Community Trailblazer Award recognizes postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have demonstrated exceptional and sustained leadership that strengthens and improves the research faculty community:

• Micah J. Schaible, research scientist II in Thomas (Thom) Orlando’s research group, Electron and Photon Induced Chemistry on Surfaces (EPICS) Lab, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Staff Leadership and Excellence Awards

The newly established Exceptional Staff Member Award and Staff Excellence Awards recognize staff who exemplify outstanding performance above and beyond the call of duty — positively impacting the strategic goals of their department and the College, consistently providing excellent service within their school or the overall College, and demonstrating exemplary teamwork:

Exceptional Staff Member Award

• Jasmine Martin, assistant to the chair, Biological Sciences

Staff Excellence Awards

• Katrine Pate, grants administrator, Physics

• Lea Marzo, assistant to the chair, Mathematics

• Stacey Bass, grants administrator lead, Psychology and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

• Steven Daniele, IT support engineer senior, Academic & Research Computing Services (ARCS)

The inaugural Leadership in Action Staff Award and Excellence in Leadership Staff Awards recognize staff who have made exceptional contributions to the College through innovative and strategic leadership, change management, business process improvement, special project leadership, and similar accomplishments:

Leadership in Action Staff Award

• Kimberly Stanley, assistant director of business operations, Mathematics

Excellence in Leadership Staff Awards

• Kathy Sims-McDaniels, development assistant in the Dean’s Office and chair of College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council 

• John Wallom, associate director of IT Operations, ARCS

The College also recognized and welcomed a trio of new faculty members who arrived on campus this school year:

• Onur Birol, academic professional, Biological Sciences

• Tansu Celikel, professor and school chair, Psychology

• Shelby Ellis, lecturer, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 

The 2022 Spring Sciences Celebration program can be found here, and high-resolution photos can be downloaded here.

It’s been in the works for more than a decade and now construction will officially begin. An announcement from Georgia Advance Technology Ventures (GATV), a cooperative organization of Georgia Tech, and Trammell Crow Company (TCC), the project developer, shares details of what will become a major life science innovation hub for the Atlanta region. Now named Science Square, the development will be a mixed-use innovation community that includes commercial lab space as well as residential real estate and retail opportunities. 

You can read more about the project here.

How to Pre-Health at Tech is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:

• Alonzo Whyte, faculty member, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, and development leader in the School of Biological Sciences
• Ritika Chanda, fourth-year neuroscience undergraduate with dual-minors in health and medical sciences and leadership studies
• Jeffrey Kramer, first-year biology undergraduate
• Charles Winter (BIO '12), anesthesiologist assistant

If it wasn’t for her dad’s encouragement, Jenna Nash may never have applied to Georgia Tech. After her admission to Tech, Nash says the resources available for pre-health students at Tech felt like “the missing puzzle piece that fell in place” when deciding what college to attend.

Four years and countless memories later, the Canton, Georgia native graduated in May 2021 with a degree in neuroscience and a minor in health and medical sciences. From her involvement in the Physician Assistant Club as a member and vice president of marketing, to support from peers, professors, and the Neuroscience Club, Nash shares that coming to campus was “the best decision I have ever made.”

Her time at Georgia Tech helped Nash achieve her goal of physician assistant (PA) school. This semester, she begins classes at Mercer University for the Master of Medical Science (MMSc) degree.

Here are Nash’s tips on “How to Pre-Health” at Georgia Tech:

Q: Why did you decide to pursue pre-health at Georgia Tech?

A: I knew going into college that I wanted to pursue a pre-health career, but Tech actually helped secure my decision to become a physician assistant. I was weighing heavily between nurse practitioner, which requires a complete Bachelor of Nursing, then going back to school to become a nurse practitioner for around two years; versus physician assistant, where you can choose your own undergraduate degree and then complete around 27 months of school; versus doctor, which requires a complete undergraduate degree then four or more years of school depending on specialty.

While choosing what school to attend, I knew I wanted to stay in state because of financial reasons, but most schools in Georgia that offered nursing programs did not seem challenging enough to me.

My dad actually encouraged me to apply to Tech, even though I thought there was no way I would get in, and I didn't think it had a huge pre-health program. However, checked all the boxes – challenging, football team, great location – so when I got in, I knew that it was meant to be. From there, I decided to become a physician assistant instead of a doctor because of a mentor in high school that told me about the flexibility and freedom that comes with becoming a PA instead of doctor – then, I knew it was for me. Additionally, I found out there was a club for pre-physician assistant students at Tech which sealed the deal. It was kind of my missing puzzle piece that fell in place. It was the best decision I have ever made.

Q: What resources did you use at Georgia Tech to support your career aspirations, such as clubs, advisors, or supportive professors?

A: One of the best resources for me during my time at Tech was the Physician Assistant Club (PAC). It is tricky navigating how to get into graduate school and it was getting super overwhelming trying to figure it out on my own. My pre-health advisor, Maria Krakovski, and one of my sisters in my sorority, Claudia Varnedoe, encouraged me to join PAC. I am so happy that I did! It helped me figure out what I needed to do while in college, allowed me to form connections with other people that aspired to become PAs, gave me job and volunteering options, and walked me through the application process which was so helpful when it came time to apply for schools my senior year.

One of the best things that came from PAC was the opportunity to work with Good Shepherd’s Clinic, which provided healthcare to uninsured people of Atlanta. At this clinic, I learned how much I loved working with underserved populations and learned a lot about the inequality in the healthcare system of Georgia and the United States.

Another thing I am so thankful for was one-on-one tutoring through the Tutoring & Academic Support Office at the Clough Undergraduate Commons (CULC). I was studying there nearly three times a week for help on subjects that I could not figure out for the life of me. It increased my confidence in my ability to solve problems and allowed me to reflect on what I really understood. Tutoring is a very underused resource at Tech, and I cannot encourage people to take advantage of the tutoring resources enough!

Q: How did Georgia Tech help you during the application cycle for graduate school? Any tips that process?

A: I am so thankful that I had Georgia Tech resources available during my application cycle. I used lots of the available resources, especially when it came to writing my personal statement. I took advantage of the Communication Center to edit my essay a lot. They really helped to critique and organize my thoughts. Writing has always been a weakness of mine, because I write just like I talk, and my message can get confusing; they went through it with me sentence by sentence to make sure every word in my essay was meaningful.

I put to use every bit of knowledge I gained from PAC during the application process. I utilized other students in the Club that I made connections with to review my application and make sure that I did not miss any small details. I encourage students to take advantage of peers with similar goals to share the stress of the application cycle with, because they are an invaluable resource.

Q: What graduate degree are you pursuing and where? Why did you choose that program?

A: I am studying to become a physician assistant (PA) at Mercer University. I knew from high school I wanted to become a physician assistant because of my desire to form connections with patients while still having time to enjoy life outside of my career.  I chose the PA program at Mercer because of its proximity to Atlanta. During my time at Tech, I became connected to the city and realized how much it has to provide. But, living in Atlanta and through my involvement at Tech, I also noticed the large population of people in need of healthcare, shelter, food, and more. Since Mercer focuses on service opportunities, I thought this would be a great way for me to give back to the city I learned so much from in college.

Q: What advice do you have for current Georgia Tech pre-health students?

A: Get as many healthcare experiences as possible that you can while you are at Tech. In Atlanta you have access to many different fields – take advantage of that! Try different things, because each thing you do will give you more information and shape your future as a healthcare provider. During those experiences, keep a journal of conversations, patients, or advice that make an impact on you. This will help you in future interviews, when writing your personal statements, or talking about your career. And it is fun to look back at it all when you are questioning whether you have chosen the correct path for yourself.

One of the most important pieces of advice that was given to me is: this is the only time in your healthcare journey where you will get the opportunity to see how different providers handle situations differently. Take advantage of shadowing experiences to determine how you will act as a healthcare provider in the future.

Lastly, develop a network of people that have a career path that is similar to you. For me I had three main people: someone who already was working in the field, someone currently in my chosen graduate program, and then someone that was at the same stage as myself. Having these people to go to with “stupid” questions was so useful and really eased my stress about the whole application process. In my experience, people are flattered when you ask them for help because it makes them feel important, so don’t be afraid to reach out!

Q: What makes Georgia Tech special?

A: I had the best four years of my life at Georgia Tech, and I am forever thankful for everything I learned from my professors, friends, and peers. It was challenging, but at the end of the day, you come out of Tech ready to accomplish anything that is ahead of you. Cherish the moments getting to learn in such a stimulating academic environment. You were chosen to be at this school for a reason.

Feel free to reach out to me if you ever need advice or encouragement! I’m always available. Email Jenna Nash.