From a young age, senior Ashok Sundararaman was urged to be a software engineer by his family. It wasn’t until the summer of his sophomore year that he discovered that his heart lay in the field of medicine and health care. This desire to join the medical field, prompted Sundararaman’s ideas for a club at San Marin, focused on exploring the fields of medicine.
“The summer before sophomore year, I attended an intro to healthcare occupations course at College of Marin and that’s what sparked my passion for medicine,” Sundararaman said.
As of now, he has participated in four internships in four different hospitals. These include internships at Marin Community Clinics, where he had a dental internship; Kaiser Petaluma, where he partook in a gastroenterology and urology internship; Kaiser San Rafael, where he was involved in a medical, surgical, and neurology internship; and Marin General Hospital which offered him an internship within the internal medicine department. Sundararaman said that his experience in the medical field made him eager to inspire others to follow a similar path that he did.
“I made this club to benefit the San Marin community and help spark a passion for many students,” Sundararaman said. “Very often, I hear people talk about their interest in medicine, but they aren’t sure how to pursue it. I realized I could help students further develop their knowledge in the healthcare industry.”
After creating the club alongside his vice president Andrew Rice and teacher advisor Jennifer Carlomagno, he got to work broadcasting for his club at the club fair and on his Instagram. Over the summer, Rice took part in the Intro To Health Occupants Academy at College of Marin.
“I really hope that the club helps people who don’t know exactly what they want to do in life,” Rice said. “I feel like it will benefit people that are unsure of what they want to do profession-wise and will give them options because the medical field is so broad.”
45 individuals signed up for the club and new members are continuously joining. At a previous meeting, Dr. Satyavolu, an internist and hospitalist at Marin General Hospital talked to the club about her experiences, and Sundararaman said that many other speakers are on schedule to come to upcoming meetings.
Junior Holly Jossart always knew that she had a future in the medical field. Following in the footsteps of her father, Gregg Jossart, who is a general surgeon at California Pacific Medical Center, the club opened her eyes to the different options the medical field has to offer. Dr. Gregg Jossart spoke to the club on Wednesday, October 31 and talked about his journey in becoming a surgeon.
As for the future of the club, Sundararaman and the club members are planning a toy drive, scheduled to take place in December. He hoped to get each of his members CPR certified by offering a discounted CPR training course on November 14. The course taught adult and infant CPR, choke saving, and other life saving techniques. This course is offered to all students and faculty.
“I think my club will impact students by either sparking new interests or further developing an existing passion for medicine or science in general,” Sundararaman said.
