Sana Ali, a sophomore at Columbia College and a double major in biology and communication, has been accepted to participate in the Yale Summer Medical and Dental Enrichment Program (SMDEP). The program is open to all undergraduates in the summer of their first year or sophomore year at college who are interested in a career in health professions.
 
Yale School of Medicine is one of twelve sites of the national program. Ali will spend June 20 to July 31 with eighty other students at Yale SMDEP, based at New Haven, Connecticut. Students will learn from medical and dental practitioners at the graduate level. The program’s primary aim is to offer students medical and dental school preparation. SMDEP works with students in a review of chemistry and physics applications and holds regular seminars.
 
Two letters of recommendation are required to supplement to SMDEP applications. Dr. Roger Schmidt, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Helen Tate, associate professor of communication, supported Ali in this venture.
 
Ali says of her acceptance to Yale SMDEP, “I am really excited about this experience but also very grateful and fortunate to be accepted into such a program. I am sure that it will help me in my future pursuits, and I’ll come back with a set mind on what I will be doing in the future. I will definitely know if medicine is the right path for me! I would like to thank Dr. Tate and Dr. Schmidt for their kindness and help with this process as well as my older sister, Safa Ali for telling me of such a great opportunity and encouraging me to complete the application. I would also encourage those first year and sophomore students who are interested in medical and dental school to consider this great program.”

Learn more about this Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program at http://www.smdep.org/.   
- report by Chaquita Williams