Joanne Snapp, EdD
CEO and Advisor
For the past fifteen years, I have helped pre-health students on their journey to a health career. After serving as the Director of Admissions at an allopathic medical school in New York followed by helping thousands of students as a pre-health advisor in California, I gained the insight and knowledge needed to provide holistic, compassionate advising to future applicants. I earned my BSEd and MA in English, and my strong writing skills paired with my ability to coach individuals through interview prep and difficult life decisions has equipped me well for this career. I am well connected in the industry and have spent many years studying what schools want and who gets in where. I grew up in the midwest and have found my way back. I love to travel, I have three kids, and I am most passionate about helping people get into a health career. Check out my resume here.
Erin Smith
Pre-Medical Advisor
Erin is a current DO/MHA dual degree student at Des Moines University. She graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a B.A. in Anthropology, B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, and a minor in Global International Studies. At UC Davis, she worked as a Student Ambassador through the Admissions Department for three years; prospective families frequently asked Erin questions regarding the pre-health professional tracks for traditional 4-year and transfer students. Erin volunteered with MEDLIFE, Special Olympics, and UC Davis Children's Hospital. Through MEDLIFE, Erin refined her Spanish with her peers and volunteered in Cusco, Peru. Here, she partnered with local health professionals to bring clinics to communities experiencing transportation barriers. Erin studied abroad twice; once at the University of Sussex in England (2017) and a second time at the University of Ghana (2018), Legon. The culmination of her experiences ignited her passion for bringing equitable health care worldwide. She is passionate about learning about global health, particularly orphan and endemic diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries and individuals with lower socioeconomic status in the United States. After graduating from UC Davis, Erin worked as a dermatology medical assistant and at-risk youth mentor for two years. Here she gained invaluable knowledge about the intricacies of delivering patient care. Erin's ultimate goal is to become a physician who uses healthcare's business model to advocate for better patient care for underserved communities.
Gabriella Hunter
Pre-Medical Advisor
Gabriella completed her undergraduate degree in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from UC Davis in 2019. Gabriella is familiar with the struggles of studying for the MCAT, having taken it twice herself. As a non-traditional, first-time applicant, she took several gap years before starting medical school. She is currently finishing her first year at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and is excited to help future student doctors on their journey to medical school!
Madeline Bright
Pre-Medical Advisor
Madeline is a first-year MD/Ph.D. student at Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell. She graduated from UC Davis as the top graduating senior in 2021 with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. At UC Davis, she was the OB/GYN co-chair for the Willow Clinic, a student-run clinic that serves people experiencing homelessness, and worked with a street medicine program. She continues this passion for serving underserved communities at the ZSOM free clinic where she is also part of the social work committee.
At UC Davis, she worked in an organic synthesis lab for 4 years developing her love for translational research. During her gap year, she worked at the Stanford Cancer Institute in the Breast Cancer Group doing clinical research. She is currently working on clinical research surrounding endometrial cancer. Madeline is passionate about patient-centered care, women's health, LGBTQIA+ care, and translational research.
Mukul Sharda
Pre-Medical Advisor
Mukul is a medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He graduated from University of California, Davis in 2021 with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. At UC Davis he was a volunteer at Clinica Tepati, a student-run clinic that serves Sacramento's underserved and undocumented population, and a research assistant at the Center for Neuroscience. During his gap year, he worked as a Junior Specialist at the Department of Pharmacology at UC Davis School of Medicine. At MCW, he is part of the Student Surgical Society and the Premed Pair-Up Program and is involved in multiple research projects in the fields of orthopedic surgery, urology, plastic surgery and cardiology. He also serves as the director of policy and finance for the Saturday Clinic for the Uninsured, an MCW affiliated student run clinic that provides free basic healthcare to the uninsured population of Milwaukee.
Linda Chen
Pre-Dental Advisor
In lieu of being a non-traditional applicant, Linda is excited that she received multiple interviews and acceptances and will be attending University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in the summer.
She graduated from UC Davis in 2019 with a dual B.S.A. degree in Psychology and Communication. She also completed a formal post-bacc through CSUEB in Fall 2022. Advising students is not new to her as she was a pre-dental peer adviser at UC Davis for many years. She has intimate knowledge of the AADSAS process and individual dental school requirements being a recent applicant herself. She can provide great insight for current applicants from personal statement editing, supplemental applications writing, and interview prep.
Susana Kalish
Pre-PA Advisor
Susana is a current PA/MPH student getting her dual degree from Northeastern University. She graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and a minor in Spanish. At UC Davis she was a volunteer and board member for the Knights Landing One Health Center, a student-run clinic that serves the migrant-farm working community of Knights Landing. She studied abroad in Bolivia through a Pediatric Health Internship with CFHI in 2019. Because of her diverse background, Susana has been passionate about learning Spanish and working with a Spanish-speaking patient population since she became interested in the PA profession in high school.
For clinical experience, Susana has worked at an FQHC in Los Angeles where she trained and became a certified medical assistant. She also worked part-time at a start-up clinic integrating primary care and preventative medicine where she monitored patient vitals remotely.
Susana has over 3 years of pre-health advising experience and specializes in pre-PA advising. She was involved in the UC Davis Pre-PA club, is an active member of the National Society of Black PAs, and completed a Pre-PA post-baccalaureate at Keck Graduate Institute in 2021.
