Mentoring in the Special Master's Program

Individualized student support is a key element of our Special Master's Program in Physiology.  With this in mind, we intentionally keep our class size small, approximately 32-40 students each year.  Students are paired with both a faulty mentor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neurobiology along with an alumni mentor who is currently attending medical school at the UC College of Medicine. Moreover, alumni who are second-year medical students provide additional student support.

Alumni-Student Mentoring 

Current UC medical students who graduated from the SMP are paired with incoming MS students. Our goal is to ensure that each student is able to ask questions and find support through numerous avenues.   Questions may include school concerns, academic support, or application planning questions. Alumni mentors are invaluable resources for SMP students with respect to shadowing, volunteering, tutoring, and academic enrichment opportunities. 

Alumni Facilitating Learning Communities

MS students also participate in small Learning Communities (LCs) during their medical-block courses. MS Alumni, who are second-year medical students, facilitate learning communities each week to support students not only in their med-block classes, but also to guide them throughout the med-block experience.  

Faculty-Student Mentoring

All MS students are paired with a faculty mentor to help guide personal and professional development. These faculty members will be available for advising, mentoring, and writing letters of recommendations when requested.

For more information or questions regarding faculty-student mentoring, please contact our Associate Director, Dr. Roger Worrell.