How to Build a Medical Student Portfolio Career

Message from Sachi

Hi all!

February has flown by - I guess it is the shortest month of the year! I hope that those of you in Ontario are enjoying reading week right now. I’ve been in the midst of balancing MSc essay writing with end-of-term priorities.

Thank you (from myself and Dunja) for all the love on last week’s interview! And thanks for our Oxford Department for re-sharing it on their social media pages- this was lovely to see in my feed:

This week, I invited one of my friends, Lucy, to share her story. Lucy and I got to know each other a bit during undergrad (and did one class project together!), and one of our mutual friends inspired us to share Lucy’s story with Invite Health.

What you’ll learn from Lucy:

• How she launched Prospective Undergraduate Medical Professionals (PuMP) as a high school student - many of you reading this will be interested in being involved!

• Pulling the curtain on what it’s like to be a first year medical student at University of Toronto (UofT), and go through the medical school application process

• How she broke into working at a Canadian medtech start-up as a first year undergrad

Enjoy today’s read,

Sachi 💌 

How to Build a Medical Student Portfolio Career: Interview with Lucy Zhao

First off, tell us about your journey so far. Where do you study, what inspired you to pursue this, and what’s next? What else do you like to do outside of studying?

Hi all, my name is Lucy (she/her) and I’m currently in my first year of medical school at the University of Toronto. Prior to starting med school, I completed a four-year degree at McMaster University in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program. The BHSc program can be completed in 3 or 4 years, with the latter giving students the option to complete an undergraduate thesis and graduate with Honours. In my fourth year, I completed my thesis in perinatal epidemiology in the IMPOWER lab at SickKids. 

So what brought me here to med school at U of T? Coming into my undergraduate studies, I actually hoped to break into the biotech industry and explore the world of entrepreneurship. This led me to get involved with a Vancouver-based start-up called Flutter Care. I’ll share more about Flutter below, but while I came into that experience thinking I would pursue a career in industry, it was my experience helping the company interview mothers about pregnancy that actually solidified my interest in medicine. 

As I continue working towards my MD, I’m excited to have the opportunity to explore different fields of medicine and figure out what’s next! At U of T, the MD program is 4 years (to my knowledge, this is the case for most schools in Canada, with the exception of a few like McMaster and UCalgary). For the first two years of medical school, we have what we call pre-clerkship, which is fairly similar to undergrad - it consists of lecture-style didactic learning, small-group tutorials, and clinical skills practice. Starting from the third year of medical school, we start what we call clerkship where we begin learning to practice medicine on-site under supervision. All this learning culminates in residency applications in our fourth year of medical school and final year of clerkship, which is done through the CaRMs process in Canada. The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMs) determines where MD graduates will complete their training after med school and acts as a centralized system for applicants to rank what medical specialty they would like to apply to. 

Other than being in school, I’m super excited to be back in Toronto and explore the city! You can catch me exploring cafes and trying different restaurants downtown (recent favourite spot: Raku for any udon lovers!). I also love to bake and cook, and recently got a cat - a very spontaneous decision that was made with my roommate on our morning walk to an exam. He’s a friendly orange fella! Mandatory cat pic: 

Tell us about your experience at Flutter Care, a Canadian health startup. How did you get involved? 

I mentioned earlier that I came into my undergraduate degree not with an interest in medicine, but rather in biotech and innovation. So when I was looking for opportunities available for the summer after my first year, I was really excited to come across the platform FLIK. At the time, FLIK was an online portal for female-identifying youth interested in innovation to apply for apprenticeships with female-led start-ups. It was through FLIK that I got connected to Dolma Tsundu, the Founder and CEO of Flutter Care. 

Flutter’s mission is to improve pregnancy experiences for parents through med tech, with a particular focus on preventing pregnancy complications. I joined Flutter that summer in 2021 to help support the development of a mobile application to help parents monitor fetal movements, which can be a predictor of pregnancy loss. As a volunteer research student, my role was to write content and garner feedback on the app by interviewing moms about their pregnancy experience. Being able to participate in team meetings about UX design and see the workflow at a start-up was incredibly exciting, but I discovered that what I enjoyed the most at the end of the day were the conversations I had with the moms. I had the immense privilege of hearing about both the highs and lows of pregnancy, where the highs leave you smiling at the end of an interview and the lows leave your heart wrenching the rest of the day. This experience of being able to interact one-on-one with parents is what made me realize that, to me, innovation stems from first understanding problems through human interaction. 

That summer was an integral part of my decision to pursue medicine, and I am so grateful to have been able to continue exploring this interest with Flutter throughout the rest of my undergraduate degree. After interviewing moms about their pregnancy experiences, we decided we wanted to undertake a study to understand how conventional pregnancy resources such as our app could better serve parents who have experienced pregnancy loss. We pitched to the Youth Impact Challenge, where after 3 rounds, we placed Top 5 across 80 teams of 300+ youth to win $2500. As the student lead on the project, I designed and conducted the study with Dolma, analyzed the data and synthesized the results into a report for parents, providers, and family. Our goal moving forward is to explore avenues to disseminate these findings to relevant stakeholders and open up the conversation on pregnancy loss. For anyone interested in medtech, femtech, or what Flutter is up to, you can stay up to date with what the company is up to on our LinkedIn! 

You’re also the founder of a national non-profit, PuMP Professionals. Can you tell us about your journey to starting PuMP, and some of your highlights? How can Invite Health readers get involved with PuMP, since we share many similar goals with our organizations? 

PuMP, or Prospective Medical Professionals, is a Canadian charity I founded back in the 10th grade in 2018 - feels like forever ago! When I reflect upon what motivated me to start the organization, it was truly as simple as having an interest in healthcare and wanting to explore it more. Yet when trying to find opportunities to learn more about these career paths, it felt like such a black box, whether it be submitting applications to volunteer at hospitals or finding research opportunities. I thought that if I wanted to learn more about medicine, why not create a community that promotes transparency and learn alongside others with the same interests? 

The initial stages of starting PuMP were some of the most challenging but rewarding experiences of my time in high school. Our goal was to start off with running a few small in-person events to build our network first, before hosting the event that PuMP was created for: PuMP+, a health sciences-focused STEM opportunities fair for high school students. With a team of around 20 of my friends, we spent months building up our platform: posting about our cause on social media, building our website, and hosting small events in the city. But a year had passed and despite building our follower base, we were still struggling to find the financial means to host PuMP+. 

It was definitely frustrating in the moment to have a vision without the means to execute it. Yet, the experience of being rejected over and over was one that I needed to face to become a better leader. While many may expect the founder of a non-profit to be eloquent and charismatic, my sixteen-year-old self was far from it. One of my greatest fears at the time was actually public speaking, and so pitching for funding was something that really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I remember how we would go door-to-door to businesses, colour printouts and business cards in hand, to pitch to owners about our cause. I still remember how my sixteen-year-old self got suited up and asked my mom to drive me to give a 5-minute pitch to my town councillor. I remember how nervous I felt in all these moments, but somewhere along the way, the desire to see our team succeed surpassed my nerves. Learning to overcome my fear of speaking taught me to worry less about the judgements of other people and to just go for it. 

In February 2020, right before the pandemic hit, we hosted our first event PuMP+ fair in Toronto. We had representatives from 25 different organizations come in to host booths and answer students’ questions, including Sanofi Biogenius, U of T’s Med Law Summer Program, and Canadian Blood Services. Seeing over 500 students and parents at the event was so rewarding that it made me curious to see how far we could scale the organization. I continued working with PuMP beyond high school and over the course of my time in university, scaled our team to branches across Canada where we continue to host PuMP+ in Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. While I started PuMP just to learn more about the field of healthcare, I wound up learning a lot about myself and growing as a person.

The most rewarding aspect of working on PuMP is undoubtedly seeing my team members grow as well. For me, it was public speaking; for others, it may have been learning web design, networking with speakers, or even realizing that a career in healthcare wasn’t what they were interested in. I am incredibly fortunate to work with so many amazing youth and see the exciting new direction they are taking with the organization. Some initiatives our team is running include our Youtube channel and our summer BioSpecs program for newcomer youth! 

If you’re interested in learning more about what we do, you can visit our website pumprofessionals.org. The true goal of our organization is not necessarily to convince every student that a career in healthcare or medicine is right for them, but rather to empower students with the breadth of knowledge and experiences they need to decide what career is most suitable for them. So whether you’re someone who wants to become a doctor or someone who is still exploring multiple interests, there may be some resources through PuMP that may be of interest to you! To stay tuned on virtual programs or local events near you, you can follow us on social media: @pumpprofessionals for our National branch, @pumptoronto @pumpcalgary@pumpottawa@pumpvancouver for our regional branches.

Tell us about your experience as a med student at UofT! Can you talk about what the application process/timeline was like, what the program format was like, and some highlights from the course? Did you apply to any other grad schools? 

Absolutely! I’ll first start by talking a bit about the program format and my experience with it so far, before sharing what the application process looked like for me. 

First, what does med school look like? 

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine offers one of the largest undergraduate medical programs in Canada. As part of the class of 2028 (or 2T8 as we call it), I get to learn alongside 290 other MD students. Each cohort is split into 4 “academies” (think Hogwarts’ houses) across 2 campuses. I’m one of ~60 students in the Fitzgerald Academy at the St. George Campus, but there’s also ~60 students in the Peters-Boyd (PB) Academy, ~90 in the Wightman-Berris (WB) Academy, and ~60 at the Mississauga Academy of Medicine at the Mississauga campus. You get to select your academy after accepting your offer and this decides which hospital sites you will do your clerkship (3rd and 4th year) and clinical skills training (1st and 2nd year, AKA pre-clerkship). 

I started at U of T just this past August and can’t believe I’m already more than halfway through my first year! Each week is packed with lectures and learning opportunities, so time flies by fast. Mondays typically start with 3 hours of lecture in the morning, followed by case-based learning (CBL) in the afternoon. This means we are given a patient case with the content we are learning that week (e.g. a patient with chest pain) and follow-up questions regarding the diagnosis, work-up, and treatment plan. Tuesdays can be a mix of either supplementary lectures on anatomy or medical imaging, or lab days where we get to spend time dissecting cadavers in groups. Wednesdays are our day off, where you can spend that time “shadowing” (observing doctors on the job to get a sense of what specialty you’re interested in pursuing) or honestly just catching up on things that have slipped through the cracks like meal prepping, laundry, and hanging out with friends! Thursdays are usually lecture in the morning, followed by CBL tutorial with preceptors who take up the case with us. Lastly, on Fridays, we have Clinical Skills for 4 hours in the morning, where we learn techniques for history taking and physical examinations and go into the hospital practice on patients. Friday afternoons are typically wrapped up with online lectures to review concepts from the week. 

Asides from having Wednesdays off, something that differentiates U of T from other med schools is our assessment style. Rather than having heavily weighted exams and “midterm seasons”, we have frequent low-stakes tests called Mastery Exercises that culminate to a final grade. These Mastery Exercises are every 2-3 weeks. Though it took some getting used to, I personally find that this helps me retain information better and also takes some stress off of studying! 

So what do I need to apply to medical school in Canada? 

The process of applying to medical school can be a long one, made up of academic and non-academic components. I’ll get into each one below. 

The most important academic aspect of your application would be your cumulative undergraduate GPA. It’s important to ensure you have taken the prerequisites needed to apply to your school of choice. Prerequisites might change from school to school (e.g. UBC requires English, UOttawa requires organic chemistry), so it’s important for anyone looking to apply to do your research beforehand and plan your course selection accordingly! 

Another crucial component of the academic portion of your application will be your MCAT. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a standardized exam required for most schools in Canada and the US. It is composed of 4 sections that tests you on your knowledge of General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Reading Comprehension, Biology, Biochemistry, and Psychology & Sociology. While GPA is typically assessed competitively, some schools in Canada use the MCAT as a cutoff (such as U of T). You can find U of T MD’s academic requirements here. 

On top of the MCAT, another standardized test some schools now require is the Casper test, which is a text and video-based assessment to measure social intelligence and professionalism. You can learn more about the Casper here. 

Now moving onto non-academic components, that would be your extracurriculars and essays. For Ontario schools, extracurriculars are evaluated through the Autobiographical Sketch (ABS), a diary of 32 different extracurricular activities a student has taken part in since the age of 16. Your ECs can be anything ranging from employment, research, volunteering, sports, or arts! Some schools, such as U of T and Western may also ask for essays. You can read more about U of T’s nonacademic requirements here. 

My experience applying

I applied to medical school twice: once in my third year of undergrad, and then again in my fourth year. Receiving a rejection post-interview in my first cycle definitely stung - for a while, I kept fixating on what I could have done differently and what I needed to change about myself in order to be a successful applicant. Yet looking back at the difference between my first and second cycle, there were truly very little differences in my application on paper: I had the GPA, same MCAT, and same extracurriculars. What changed the most was my attitude towards the application process: focusing on showcasing the best version of myself rather than trying to be what I thought admissions committees wanted to see. For me, that meant prioritizing balance. This looked like actively scheduling time to invest in who I was outside of medicine (hobbies, friends, family), but also coming to terms with the imperfections in my application and not fixating on my shortcomings, like the extracurriculars I didn’t have and the points that I missed in my interviews. 

As I adapted my mindset, I was fortunate enough to receive 5 interview invites. I began prepping for my first interview in December, and continued until the end of March. These 3 long months were filled with reading up on current events in healthcare, listening to podcasts (some great ones are White Coat Black Art and CMAJ), and practicing a little bit every day. I interviewed for schools with a variety of interview formats, including the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI), vMPI (virtual Modified Panel Interview), and traditional panel. 

What did I plan to do if not medicine? 

The goal if my second cycle didn’t work out was to try again the next year, but I also wanted to have other options to consider. As someone who hopes to pursue a career in research, I also applied to several graduate school programs. From a practical standpoint, I wanted to complete my MD before a Master’s or PhD so I could gain some work experience, start earning a salary, and settle down; however, if not accepted to medical school in my fourth year, I was also prepared to complete another degree first. My first choice at the time was U of T’s Master’s of Public Health program in the Epidemiology stream, for which I was fortunate enough to receive an acceptance to. I also applied and was accepted the Master’s of Public Health at McMaster University and Master’s of Science in Global Health at McMaster University. While there can feel like some pressure to pursue a Master’s for those hoping to reapply to medicine, there are also many other options to explore if pursuing a Master’s or research work isn’t up your alley! Many of my classmates spent time travelling and working, even in completely different fields like software engineering and teaching. There truly isn’t just one path to medicine!

What advice do you have for students who want to pursue similar paths to yours (i.e. across start-ups, research, medicine), especially if they’re just starting out?

If I could give one piece of advice to my younger self and other students out there, it would be to just go for it! I think back to when I was in high school and missing out on opportunities simply because I didn’t try. Thoughts like “I can’t apply for this because I don’t have XYZ experience” or “I’ve never done this type of work before” hindered me from even trying to get my foot through the door. But the reality is that we all have to start somewhere, and even if we feel like we don’t have the qualifications for the job, that’s a decision to be left up to the recruiters, not us. Having a positive attitude and just showing up is half the battle, because by opening ourselves up to the possibility of rejection, we also open ourselves up to the possibility of a ‘yes’. I remember my younger self messaging strangers for virtual coffee chats on LinkedIn and contacting professors to pick their brain on their most recent paper. I remember cold-emailing nearly 100 professors for research opportunities before landing my interview. I probably received countless ‘no’s, but 4 years later, it’s not the ‘no’s I remember but the insights I gained from the people who did say ‘yes’. So don’t discount yourself and don’t be afraid to do what scares you. 

What types of experiential learning opportunities did you have in undergrad that you think were the most pivotal in getting you to where you are today?

Asides from my time working with PuMP and Flutter Care, I would say the most valuable experience I had in my undergraduate pursuits was getting involved with research. 

I got my first paid summer undergraduate research experience after cold-emailing extensively during the second semester of my first year of university. As a research assistant with the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at McMaster, I got my first taste of clinical research looking at risk factors for cancers of the female reproductive tract. I had such a great time working with my mentor that I continued working with her for a research course in my second year, where I had the opportunity to design and conduct my own study, titled Information needs of Lynch syndrome and BRCA 1/2 mutation carriers considering risk-reducing gynecological surgery: a qualitative study of the decision-making process. This project was qualitative in nature, meaning I had the opportunity to interview patients about their perspectives; however, this made me curious to learn about more quantitative methods in research, which lead me to my experience with UGRP. 

In my second year, I also joined the first cohort of the McMaster Department of Medicine’s Undergraduate Research Program (UGRP). This was an unpaid position that was posted in our program Facebook group, and after a written application and interview process, I got the chance to join UGRP and delve into some more quantitative methods used in clinical research. I wound up working on a few systematic reviews in hematology, which you can read here and here. Having the chance to design aspects of the study, perform statistical analyses, and write up the manuscript solidified my interest in and motivated me to pursue my Honours thesis at SickKids. 

I joined as a paid research assistant in the IMPOWER lab through the SickKids Summer Research (SSuRe) program in 2023 and continued working with the group for my fourth year thesis on maternal hypothyroidism in pregnancy and subsequent cardiometabolic outcomes in children. I’m still wrapping up the project now, but it’s been awesome working with the lab for the past few years!

If I have a takeaway from these experience, it’s to be open-minded to opportunities that come your way. When I came into my undergraduate degree, I was actually most curious to try wet lab research. When I wasn’t able to find a wet lab opportunity the summer after my first year, I was disappointed. But when I finally did get a chance to spend a summer spent in lab, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I realized that I didn’t particularly enjoy being on my feet all day or working with my hands as much as I thought I would, and found that I much preferred clinical research. So in the end, I’m glad I cast a wide net and explored my interests, discovering both what I like and don’t like! 

Where can students go if they want to learn more about your experiences?

It always makes me happy to connect with other students! Please feel free to add me on LinkedIn and we can chat about any questions you have. 

To learn more about PuMP and what we do, check out our website: pumprofessionals.org. We post about our events on social media, where we’re most active on Instagram: @pumpprofessionals. We also have regional events depending on where you’re located: @pumptoronto, @pumpcalgary, @pumpvancouver, @pumpottawa.

Is there any final advice or resources that you would like to share with Invite Health readers?

My final piece of advice is to be brave and not afraid to reach out for help! I used to believe it was best to tackle problems independently and struggled to reach out to others around me for help - whether it be some as small as a homework question or as important as a letter of reference. But when I started opening up about challenges I was facing, I realized that so many mentors were willing to help, not just with questions I had about work, but in advancing my development as a student. Opening up a channel of communication strengthened my relationship with my mentors and created opportunities I didn’t think would be possible, like attending research conferences and pitch competitions. My mentors were also crucial in my journey to applying to medical school and I would not be where I am today without their coaching and feedback. So if you’re struggling to tackle everything on your own, don’t be afraid to reach out for support - which means please do reach out to me as well! :) 

Jobs, Opportunities & Resources 💻️ 

Most of these resources are reposted on Invite Health’s LinkedIn page.

• Summer Fellows Grants | Y Combinator

• University Health Network | Summer Student Positions

• Indigenous Student Summer Internship | BioCanRx

• NSERC | Frequently asked questions about the new Black scholars funding

• Innovation & Partnerships Analyst | St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

• Summer Student Research Programs with March Deadlines

• The Next Neuroscientist: 2025 application form

• Program to Advance Training in Health & Sciences (PATHS)

• Applications open for Arthur S. Slutsky Scholar in Residence (SiR) Program 2025-26

• Sr. Indigenous Health Lead at Lakeridge Health

• The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme | ACU

• Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program | Black and Racial Equity (BARE) Research Program | Cumming School of Medicine | University of Calgary

About Invite Health 💌 

I started Invite Health for my younger self who was trying to figure out what to do with my health sci degree that wasn’t a career in medicine.

Today, I’d say this quote is the primary reason I continue to build Invite Health:

The mission of Invite Health is to close this talent-opportunity gap for students in the life and health sciences.

Since 2022, we’re the leading resource for students figuring out what to do with a life sci / health sci degree. I interview students pursuing diverse careers in healthcare, and how they got there - no gatekeeping here. Every newsletter is rich with resources and insights.

Our main channel is this newsletter, and I occasionally share resources on social media (LinkedIn and Instagram).

You can read more about why I built Invite Health here

How to get the most out of Invite Health 🫶

1. Connect with the interviewees: At the end of every newsletter, the interviewees leave their contact information for you to contact them. In your message, mention that you learned about their journey through Invite Health, and that you’re curious to learn more!

2. Share the word: Share Invite Health with your friends and networks. Start a conversation about something you learned- an opportunity, a piece of advice, or a recommendation that an interviewee made.

3. Bet on yourself: Apply to the opportunities that are shared in the newsletters. You have nothing to lose, and so much to gain. Circling back to point #1 - always reach out to the interviewees if you want advice!

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Read all of Invite Health’s past interviews

How I Built Invite Health - BTS 🌼 

I’m building a series where I share strategies on how I built Invite Health. In two years, I’ve grown Invite Health organically to 1,500+ subscribers (meaning, I’ve spent $0), building it sustainably as a solo student founder throughout undergrad and my Master’s.

Where I learned to create interview questions

Through doing Invite Health interviews, I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the art of a question: how the question starts (i.e. how, when, what, why), and what type of answer it expects (i.e. open vs close-ended responses). I’ve had a lot of fun iterating the questions I ask on Invite Health (if you’ve been subscribed for a while, you can see how it’s progressed!). I turned to many places for inspiration, and these are some sources that stood out:

• PaRx People: A Conversation with Dr. Amir Khan

• PaRx People: A Conversation with Dr. Kate Mulligan

• What Does 'Good' Mean at Work?

• Dr. Teresa Chan talks transforming medical education - Toronto Met University Magazine

• How I Built This podcast 

• Spotlight on...Lucy Yu, Centre for Net Zero | Octopus Energy 

• Getting Hired: How to Score a Job at Google X, the Secret Lab Behind Glass and Self-Driving Cars - Core77

Free Links & Resources 🫰 

• Applying to Grad Schools Notion Guide by Sachi

• 15 Paid Summer Research Programs in Canada

• 25 Paid Summer Programs for Life Science & Health Science Students in Canada

• Paid Summer Programs in Research, Policy, Tech, etc.

• Paid Healthcare x Business Opportunities for Students 

• How to Write a Cold Email

• How to Secure Research Funding

Made with 💝 & 🍵 by Sachi

Invite Health’s Impact 💌