Weill Cornell students Michael Keyoung and Kavita Parikh and Dr. Carol Storey-Johnson, senior associate dean for education, addressed the students and faculty to open the mixer. (Ms. Parikh is president of the Medical Student Executive Council, and Mr. Keyoung is Weill Cornell's student representative on the Board of Overseers.)
Weill Cornell's Medical Student Executive Council (MSEC) hosted a "mixer" for students and faculty on April 8 in the Griffis Faculty Club—as an informal catalyst to encourage more mentorship relationships between students and faculty.
"The students were very encouraged that more than 50 faculty members attended our first mixer," said Michael Keyoung, Weill Cornell's student representative on the Board of Overseers, who is pursuing both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. "We've had very good feedback from both students and faculty members as they look forward to developing closer relationships at future mixers and other occasions that develop. We would like to invite other faculty who were not able to attend our first event to contact us to participate in our new mentoring initiative." Interested faculty should contact Mr. Keyoung at hkeyoung@med.cornell.edu or second-year student Kavita Parikh, president of the MSEC, at khp2002@med.cornell.edu.
The April 8 mixer was the first of a series of informal gatherings that the MSEC is planning to increase interaction among the students and faculty. "We'd like to thank the deans—Dr. Gotto, Dr. Storey-Johnson and Dr. Ballard—for their support in this effort, and we also thank Jason Korenkiewicz in the Academic Affairs office and Rachel Kalaf in the Student Affairs office for helping us organize our event," said Ms. Parikh.
The MSEC and the Medical College administration are exploring ways to improve the faculty advisory system. "We hope to have a new advisory system in place for the next first-year class," said Mr. Keyoung.
First-year students Howard Hsu and Jonathan Austrian chat with Dr. John Daly, chairman of the Department of Surgery.
Heather Tauschek (second year) and John Pena (first year) have a lively discussion with Dr. Gustav Kappler, lecturer in surgery.
First-year students Jen Scherer and Malika Seth speak with Dr. Paul Miskovitz, clinical associate professor of medicine and president of the Cornell University Weill Medical College Alumni Association.
First-year students Mustapha Saheed (president of the first-year class) and Jonathan Kazam (right) speak with Dr. Joseph Hayes, the Irene F. and I. Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine.