Meet the New SOM Student Senate Leaders

As the new academic year is about the get underway during an unprecedented time, the new executive board of the New York Medical College (NYMC) School of Medicine (SOM) Student Senate shared their thoughts and plans with InTouch. The SOM Student Senate is composed of 21 peer-elected student representatives from all classes who work closely with students, faculty and administrators to express concerns and create solutions to ensure the success and holistic wellness of students, while creating an atmosphere of professionalism, inclusion and camaraderie. 

Kelsey O'Hagan, SOM Class of 2022, President

“The year 2020 has brought many changes to the NYMC community. As we transition back to in-person education we want to maintain the student leadership meetings that started due to physical distancing. These meetings have increased communication and collaboration between student groups. This year we are dedicating time at every Senate meeting for students and groups to share their ideas and concerns. As SOM Student Senate president, I hope to utilize our position and resources to ensure that all organizations on campus can accomplish their goals for the year. As such, I will make dedicated time for students to talk to me. We have done this within the Senate as coffee time chats and expanding this opportunity will increase transparency and help improve our communication. Internally I am adding to the organization and documentation instituted by Jennifer Lindelof, M.D. ’20, the past president of the Student Senate. This process has shortened meetings and contributed to new senate initiatives, to improve the experience at NYMC.”

Scarlett Tohme, SOM Class of 2021, Vice President

“This year, I hope to further strengthen the student body at NYMC by bringing together all the initiatives from our student groups and look for ways to collectively advance as a diverse community of future physicians that bring to light advocacy, innovation, research, compassion, empathy and solidarity toward what is right and what is just in our community.”

Matthew Holstein, SOM Class of 2022, Treasurer

“As treasurer, I want to streamline the event reimbursement and event planning processes for students. I will continue to facilitate and improve the process of SOM group purchases of UWorld, a premier question bank for test preparations and study resource for medical students. During the pandemic, I have been helping students find ways to use student activities funds for virtual events, which I will continue to do to help promote a sense of community, even if it is only online for now. Once in-person events are deemed safe, I will work to help student organizations fund their events, to make up for major springtime events that had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My underlying mission as treasurer is to empower students to utilize student activities funds in new, innovative ways that bolster the fantastic NYMC community.” 

Jood Ani, SOM Class of 2022, Outreach Coordinator

“My priorities are maintaining a sense of community within all class years as well as building and maintaining the current student connection to alumni. Since it is  a new position on the Student Senate Executive Board., I will mold it and expand on it for the needs of our student body including access to career development with alumni. I plan to work with the Office of Alumni Relations to expand on the guidance our current student body can receive from alumni. As we have become a virtual campus due to the pandemic, we have been able to witness the lengths that technology can bring us and we should take advantage of the virtual medium to build and maintain the connection to those who were once in our shoes at NYMC.”

Mariah Fontanez- Lutsky, SOM Class of 2023, Secretary

“This year I plan to diligently record senate meetings to ensure continuing transparency with the student body. To better help connect the SOM Student Senate with other leadership clubs on campus, I plan to compile an up-to-date list of all clubs and contact information of the executive board’s members. Finally, to ensure all senate members understand what is being discussed in the meetings and to ensure a smooth transition for newly elected senators, I am working on a “cheat sheet” of common terms and acronyms used by senators and administrators.”