Saint Louis

sfmentorship@gmail.com

About SF Mentoring

About Our Organization

SF Mentoring (SFM) stands for "savoir faire," which colloquially means proper upbringing.

SFM is an organization run by medical student volunteers designed to help college students pursue their dreams of attending medical school. Applicants to medical schools are much more diverse than ever, with many applying in college, after a gap year, or even from another career. Additionally, applicants have different target schools, with a variety of allopathic and osteopathic programs to choose from.

What do we do?

We match pre-medical students with a medical student who can provide personalized advising that matches their journey and goals. COVID-19 left pre-medical students searching for guidance, virtually, from those who have been through the medical school admissions process. Our free, structured advising service aims to meet this great need in our community.

Board of Directors

Our Founders

Co-founders (from left to right): Kevin Yang, Lazarus Zamora, Awais Paracha, Michael Lugo, Rohan Das, Zohair Siddiqui

In June of 2020, Rohan Das, Michael Lugo, Awais Paracha, Zohair Siddiqui, Kevin Yang, and Lazarus Zamora founded SF Mentoring at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. At this time many opportunities were shut down to college undergraduates due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and safety measures. This group of medical students recognized the loss of interaction undergraduates would suffer. Hence, they decided as a collective to start their own organization, focused on mentoring pre-medical students through an online medium. SF stands for “Savoir Faire,” which means “proper upbringing” in French, capturing the sentiment our mentors share as they guide premedical students through the medical school admissions process.

The success of SF Mentoring at Saint Louis University soon spread to other states in the Midwest and East Coast; medical students and pre-medical undergraduates alike would join as mentor and mentee, respectively. By 2022, SF Mentoring had expanded its members from a group of twenty to over two hundred. Following this growth, we encourage our forthcoming physicians to stand true to our ideals and principles of promoting a culture of passing the torch and sending the elevator back down. We strive to provide guidance and better prepare the future generation of physicians with a clear path to achieve their dreams. We hope to see SF Mentoring continue to prosper and grow with like-minded individuals who share the same vision.

Previous Executive Board

Class of 2025 Leadership

Executive Director – Joshua Kim

Matching and OnBoarding – Nikita Peramsetty

Outreach and Expansion – Nicholas Wu

Recruitment – Girija Vaidya

Mentor/Mentee Relations – Osha Chesnutt-Perry

Social Media – Julia Hughes

Current Executive Board

Claire Schroll

Executive Director

Claire is a first-year medical student originally from St. Louis. She attended undergrad at the University of Missouri-St. Louis where she majored in biology. During undergrad she found it difficult to find mentors who understood the medical school application process. Through joining SF Mentoring she hopes to help expand the availability of mentorship and support to pre-med students. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, hiking, and playing with her dog Maple.

Edward Garner is a first-year medical student at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He is originally from Saint Louis, and he attended Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, where he majored in music. Edward is excited about serving as the Matching and Onboarding Director for SF Mentoring this year. He is looking forward to pairing future mentees with mentors to ensure they are a good fit. Some things Edward likes to do in his free time include climbing, hiking, playing music, and spending time with friends.

Edward Garner

Matching & Onboarding

Jenny Blasius

Outreach & Expansion

Jenny is a first-year medical student originally from Park Ridge, IL. She attended SLU for undergrad where she majored in public health and biology. She joined SF Mentoring because she always enjoyed teaching and mentoring in undergrad and wants to do all she can to help students achieve their goals! In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends, going rock climbing, playing piano, and traveling.

Helen is a first-year medical student originally from the NYC area. She went to college in Rochester, NY where she studied microbiology and business. Prior to medical school she took two years in which she worked as a community resource advocate and served with AmeriCorps. In her free time she loves to cook and bake bread.

Helen Shung

Recruitment

Shalaka Nimmagadda

Mentor/Mentee Relations

Shalaka is a first-year medical student originally from St. Louis, MO. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Neuroscience. Shalaka gained valuable insight from medical student mentors while she was in undergrad, and she is excited to pay it forward by providing support and advice for pre-medical students through SF Mentoring. In her free time, Shalaka enjoys spending time outdoors, reading, and playing with dogs at Stray Rescue of St. Louis.

Riley is a first-year medical student originally from Ste. Genevieve, MO. She went to Saint Louis University for undergrad where she majored in Health Sciences with a minor in Biology. As a first-generation college and medical student, Riley knows what it is like to feel lost when applying to medical school. She joined SF mentoring with the goal of giving back to others who feel the same way. Riley enjoys exploring new coffee shops in STL, hiking, camping, and watching sports in her free time.