Pre-med

The Premedical Committee strives to help students navigate the processes of making the decision to pursue a career in medicine and applying to medical school. The resident and non-resident tutors who provide counseling represent the most important aspect of our advising system. Other resources, including the Premedical Manual and useful links, are available on this website.

The Premedical Committee is set up to provide Dunster House students and alumni with information on medical careers, medical schools, and the application process. The committee also writes a House Recommendation Letter (also called a “Dean’s Letter” or “Committee Letter”) which accompanies the applicant’s other academic references to every school. A personal advisor is assigned to each Junior, Senior or alum who will be applying in the current year to help with all aspects of the application process and to write the first draft of the House letter. Please note that missing Dunster House specific deadlines may limit our ability to provide a Committee letter due to time constraints.

While medical schools may list their official deadlines as Oct. – Dec., they begin reviewing applications and sending secondary applications in June. You optimize your chances of admission by submitting your application as early as possible. Being aware of the general timeline for the process, as well as specific deadlines for Dunster House, is the responsibility of each applicant.

Forms

Useful Links

MCAT Material

Avi Cohen

avicohen@hms.harvard.edu

Pre-Med and Intramurals Tutor

Academic Specialty: Medicine, Public Health, Statistics

Hi Dunster! My name is Avi and I am a third year at Harvard Medical School from just outside Burlington, Vermont. I graduated from Yale in 2022 and then spent a year in Cambridge, England completing a master’s in Population Health. Academically, I’m...

Tamina Kienka

Pre-Med and Culture & Community Tutor

Academic Specialty: Medicine

Hello Dunster fam! I’m a fifth year MD-PhD student at HMS from Lagos, Nigeria. I will be joining as a first-year tutor with a pre-med focus, and I couldn’t be more excited. I moved to the US in 2012 to start college at North Carolina Central University...

Ruhi Nayak

ruhi_nayak@hms.harvard.edu

Pre-Med Tutor

Hi Dunster! My name is Ruhi, and I’m a third-year MD/MBA candidate at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School. I grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and moved to Massachusetts for college at Harvard, where I studied Government and Global...

Sarah Pitafi

sarahpitafi@hms.harvard.edu

Pre-Med, Culture & Community, and Wellness Tutor

Academic Specialty: Medicine, Health Policy

Hey Dunster! My name is Sarah Pitafi, and I’m a third-year medical student at Harvard. I grew up in Honolulu, Hawai’i, and later moved to Illinois. I studied Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale and spent my gap year in London as a Fulbright Scholar...

Grace Sun

grace_sun@hms.harvard.edu

Pre-Med Tutor

Hi, Meese! My name is Grace Sun (she/her), and I am a second-year Pathways MD student at Harvard Medical School. I grew up in Louisiana and studied Computer Science and Molecular Biology at MIT. There, I also enjoyed bioengineering and health policy...