Post Baccalaureate/Gap Year
Not sure what to do after your undergraduate career? Come hear about two different options and how these two pathways can help you achieve your desired health profession! With four speakers, we will be providing a comprehensive overview of these programs.
Valerie Margol
Valerie Margol, M.A. is the Associate Director of Post Baccalaureate and Outreach Programs for the UCSF School of Medicine. She has directed the UCSF School of Medicine Post Baccalaureate Program for 20 years, and plans and oversees outreach programs for the UCSF School of Medicine. Her work focuses on helping individuals from disadvantaged and underserved communities gain acceptance to an U.S. medical school. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Master’s Degree from John F. Kennedy University.
Nicole Carvajal
Nicole was born and raised in Van Nuys, CA. Living in a medically underserved community and the daughter of immigrants, she experienced health inequities first-hand. She attended community college and later transferred to UC Riverside to pursue her interests in bioengineering. Upon graduation, she moved to the East Coast to conduct research at the NIH – NIBIB, where she focused on biophysical research involving the biological applications of atomic force microscopy. She also found opportunities to interact with patients and physicians. It was through these interactions that she saw a necessity for physicians with her background and life experiences that helped reaffirm her interest in pursuing a medical degree. She moved to San Francisco to participate in the UCSF Post Baccalaureate Program where she learned more about issues affecting underserved communities. She later worked as a staff research associate in a UCSF Cancer Immunotherapy laboratory and volunteered as a mentor for community programs promoting higher education. Nicole is currently a 2nd year medical student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program and PRIME-US.
Jewel Reaso
Jewel Reaso recently graduated from Cal in May 2018 with a Bachelor's of Science in Molecular Environmental Biology. During her time at Cal, she was heavily involved in the organization, Pilipino Association for Health Careers, as well as the Mabuhay Health Center in San Francisco. Currently, she is attending Cal State East Bay for a Post Baccalaureate program called Pre-Professionals in Health Academic Program (PHAP). She is still involved the Mabuhay Health Center, currently as one of the Director of Communications. Jewel works as a Lab Manager in the Traxler Lab, a microbiology lab in the Department of Plant of Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley. Her career goals align with medicine and hopes to one day become a physician in order to give back to communities that lack health care resources. With everything she pursues, she remains to acknowledge her identity and passions in order to accomplish her goal of becoming a physician.
Enrique Martinez
Enrique Martinez was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. at the age of 13. He graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Since graduating college, he has explored medicine in a variety of research and clinical settings, including clinical research and four years in emergency medicine. He recently completed the UCSF School of Medicine Post Baccalaureate Program, and was just accepted into medical school.
Eric Martinez
Eric Martinez is originally from the Inland Empire. He did his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in genetics at the University of California, Irvine and graduated in 2015. As an undergrad, he did research in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology in Dr. Bruce Blumberg’s Lab, then later worked in an Alzheimer’s research lab with Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones. Since then he has been a medical scribe for a surgeon’s office and shadowed physicians in different specialties. He joined the UCSF Post Baccalaureate program this past year in order to solidify my grades and MCAT score before applying this summer. I want to be a doctor to help those in underserved communities, because of where I grew up.