Pete Mendoza
Image Courtesy | Kelsey Baker
Assistant Dean of Educational Affairs for Preclerkship Kelsey Baker shares her story to bring inspiration to students who feel the struggle of keeping up with their majors.
Baker said she has multiple commitments that includes the director of medical student research and an assistant professor in the Neurobehavioral Health ICU at the School of Medicine.
However, she said there is one position she has recently paid more attention to.
“Most of my time right now is in educational affairs,” Baker said. “My overall role is to oversee the first two years of the medical school curriculum.”
Associate Dean for Educational Affairs at the School of Medicine Sambandam Elango said Baker is an uplifting hard worker.
“One thing is that she is quite positive,” Elango said. “She is a forward looking colleague and very capable and very friendly.”
She said as an undergraduate, her career pathway was in biomedical engineering, which she chose because of her parents and their careers. She also was a resident adviser, where she coached students during their first year on campus.
She said she fell in love with the idea of teaching and decided to incorporate it with the major she was already studying.
The assistant dean said undergraduate school was a difficult time for her.
“Standardized testing didn’t come naturally to me,” Baker said. “I entered college and they said you need to take 18 credit hours and I said, ‘OK,’ and that was a recipe of disaster for me.”
She said through this experience is when she realized mental health was an important aspect in life.
She added being with the right people who will help and push others to continue on the journey are key factors to success. She has gone through her share of mentors through her pathway, from undergraduate school to graduate school to now.
She said to not be afraid to ask for help because there is always someone who can help, whether it is financial support, safety concerns or anything that becomes a struggle.
This is Pete Mendoza for Vaquero Radio.
