Students from the Pace Center for Girls, an all-girls alternative school, and Girls Place, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young women, took a field trip to the UF College of Medicine July 26, gathering in the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building and rotating among stations staffed by college faculty. The event, hosted by the college’s Women in Medicine and Science advisory board and Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, along with the Medi-Gators Virtual Shadowing Program run through the department of neurology, was designed to inspire the next generation of female physicians and scientists, showing them the breadth of opportunities in health care.

This podcast episode highlights a unique and innovative virtual shadowing program for pre-health students developed by the University of Florida Department of Neurology. Members of the ASHP New Practitioners Forum chat with founders of the Medi-Gators Virtual Shadowing Program to gather their insights and lessons learned when developing the program to improve access to shadowing, mentorship, and other health-related opportunities for all students.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic took opportunities away from pre-health students, Alyson Moriarty created her own. 
Medi-Gators offers job shadowing and mentorship to students. The program helps expose participants to healthcare professions. It’s virtual format on Zoom makes shadowing more accessible for underprivileged students and parents providing for their families while fulfilling academic obligations.”

The University of Florida Medi-Gators Mentorship Program serves as a bridge connecting undergraduate and health professions students with UF faculty and area health care professionals who share similar backgrounds and interests.

Two College of Public Health and Health Professions faculty members, Sharon DiFino, Ph.D., and Yan Wang, Ph.D., are among the Medi-Gators mentors who are providing guidance, fostering insight, encouraging growth and empowering student participants with a goal of building a more successful and equitable health career pipeline.

As part of the Medi-Gators mentorship program at the University of Florida College of Medicine, first-year anesthesiology resident Javier Garcia, M.D., is leading a group of medical students and undergraduates in a project designed to enhance patient understanding of the preoperative process.

UF Medicine-founded program organizes mentorship possibilities.

For UF biochemistry undergraduate student Nicole Hernandez, the opportunity to virtually shadow health care professionals solidified her decision to stay on the pre-med track.
“It has been very eye-opening to see how the teams all work together and how you have to develop a certain level of communication skills to be successful,” she said.