Incoming medical students involved in the prematriculation course included (top row) Michelle McDonald, Pablo Tovar, Gabriela Arias and Meredith Bryarly; (third row) Anna Diller and Kyle Kalkwarf; (second row) Christopher Guadarrama, William Lavery, Alissa Zarrow and Maggie Rubey; and (first row) Katherine Cox, Clifton Green, Vinh Nguyen and Jennifer Lai.
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Twenty-eight incoming medical students at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio just completed a two-week prematriculation program — the first such course offered through the newly created office of academic enhancement.

“This is a course for incoming medical students who have been out of school for some time, who have a non-science major background or are interested in learning more about the expectations of medical school,” explained David Henzi, Ed.D., director of the office of academic enhancement.

Course taught by Health Science Center medical students
“All courses are taught by second- and fourth-year medical students,” he said. Among the courses were gross anatomy, histology, microbiology, neuroscience, biochemistry and physiology. The teaching assistants for the pre-matriculation course were second-year students Ashley Bocanegra, Edwin Chu, Stephanie Gardner, Grace Hsiung and Taylor Laney, and fourth-year medical students Anne Cioletti and Renee Hamilton.

More students involved in the prematriculation course were (top row) Wesley Allen; (third row) Ifran Haider, Christopher Dwyer, Christina Ortega and Alaric Frazier; (second row) Stephanie Ericson, Emily Pratt, Michael Jordon and Mariano Porto; (first row) Zara Oakes, Katie Wiggins-Dohvlik, Krystal Jerry and Pooya Iranpour. Danilo Volpini also participated but is not in the photo.

Other services
Other services
The office of academic enhancement also offers:
• Peer tutoring for students who are having academic difficulties
• A Web site with study skill aids
• Coaching for second-year medical students for the U.S. Medical Licensure Exam (USMILE), Step 1
• A tutoring elective for second- and fourth-year medical students who volunteer to help their fellow students.
• And a mentoring program for all interested medical students.

More than 230 medical students started classes on July 23, after having their white coat ceremony on July 22.

For more information about the services offered through the office of academic enhancement, visit the Web page or call 210-567-0638.