Members of the incoming Perelman School of Medicine class spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian about the next four years.
Credit: Max MesterThree members of the incoming Perelman School of Medicine class spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian about their medical aspirations, journey to Penn, and what excites them most about the next four years.
The Medical School released its 2024-2025 admissions cycle acceptances for the incoming class of 2029 in early March. The school routinely reports a single-digit acceptance rate, receiving 6,288 applications for approximately 150 spots during the 2023-24 application cycle.
The DP interviewed three members of Perelman's incoming class to learn more about their journeys to Penn and the motivation behind their prospective course of study.
Micaela Alpert — originally from Summit, N.J. — is a current College senior at Penn studying biophysics, biochemistry, and biology with a minor in anthropology. She participates in the Vagelos Molecular Life Sciences program and is also concurrently pursuing a master’s degree in chemistry.
Alpert said that enrolling at Penn Medicine was a full-circle moment for her. After being diagnosed with cancer in middle school, Alpert underwent treatment at Penn Med and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. While a patient at Penn Med, Alpert said the compassionate interactions she had with her healthcare team influenced her perspective on the field of medicine and inspired her desire to pursue it — specifically in pediatrics.
“It’s really about caring for the person, and not just the patient … that’s the practice I want to bring with me when I’m providing care as a future physician,” Alpert said.
On campus, Alpert served as the 2024 Chief of Penn Medical Emergency Response Team, the student-run emergency medical technician service. During her time as MERT Chief, she emphasized the importance of outreach in the West Philadelphia community, helping organize first-aid training in correctional facilities and conducting opioid overdose reversal, CPR, and Narcan trainings on Locust Walk to increase awareness on various medical issues to the Penn community.
This passion for outreach also extended to her work with a medical education program coordinated with Penn Med, where Alpert worked to expose high school students to different aspects of the medical field, something she hopes to continue while studying at the Medical School.
“It’s really rewarding to see them go along that journey and follow through with it over the course of multiple years … to maybe see the 10th and 11th graders I was working with and help them with their postgraduate plans; that’s something I’m very excited about and looking forward to,” Alpert said.
Kendyl Howell, a current senior at Howard University from Dallas, Texas, is completing a bachelor's degree in clinical laboratory science. She credited her desire to pursue a career in medicine to her experiences in childhood taking care of chronically ill relatives, which exposed her to the importance of patient advocacy and ensuring everyone received a quality healthcare experience.
Howell — who hopes to specialize in surgery — initially became interested in Penn Med after spending two summers in Philadelphia conducting cardiology research as part of the Penn Access Summer Scholars program.
“Everyone there just wants to learn. Even the people in the elevator — you speak to them in the hallways and they start telling you about this and that and really cool opportunities to try; they definitely help pave the way for you,” Howell said.
Howell's experience resulted in both a published literature review in the prestigious science publication Nature and a desire to continue her research experience in the Philadelphia medical and research hub.
Having attended Howard University, a designated historically Black college, Howell said that as a future physician, she wants to "pave the way for other minorities — especially women — to get into medicine" and "make the healthcare setting a place where patients are comfortable coming and going to.”
Current College senior Akinkunmi Adio, a Pennsylvania native from Berks County, is majoring in neuroscience but expressed how his undergraduate experience shaped a strong interest in specializing in orthopedics while at the Medical School.
“Initially, what excited me about [neurosurgery] was the fact that you could manipulate the brain or the spine or something in the nervous system and … I liked how it manifested in the physical aspect with a change in motion,” Adio said.
His interest in motion, Adio said, could partially be attributed to seeing a brain tumor diagnosis cause his high school best friend's life course to change from being a NCAA Division 1 prospect to barely being able to walk.
As part of the Penn Medicine Johnson Scholars program, Adio was able to shadow various doctors at the Medical School, including an orthopedic surgeon. This sparked an “itch” to explore motion further through orthopedics, leading him to join an orthopedic sports medicine research lab last year.
“[Orthopedics] made me see the field of medicine in terms of just trying to help people return back to their everyday lives doing what they love because if you don’t have good health, you don’t have anything,” Adio said.
Adio hopes to join the Leo Leung Orthopaedic Society while at the Medical School and share this interest with others and learn from their experiences. Aside from orthopedics, Adio also expressed an interest in joining cultural affinity groups.
“I identify as African-American, and I didn’t see a black doctor in college, so seeing something like that, being somebody who people could look up to whether it is racial or cultural … that’s what I see [my legacy] being in the future,” Adio said.
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