Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians

ABOUT BNGAP

Mission

The mission of Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP) is to help diverse medical students and residents become aware of academic medicine as a career option and to provide them with the resources to further explore and potentially embark on an academic medicine career.

History

Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP) was first introduced to Albany Medical College in Fall 2018, when AMC hosted the Northeast Regional BNGAP Conference. At the time, a chapter did not exist at Albany Med. After attending the conference, Zohal Ghulam-Jelani ('20) and Mi'yante Newton ('20) reached out to begin a chapter.  The club was proposed and provisionally approved by student council in December 2018. The first official elected governing board began in January 2019, with Zohal as President and Mi'yante as Vice President. The club hosted a variety of workshops, including CV Workshops, Mentorship Panels, and Research Workshops. In addition to helping increase the involvement of underrepresented students involvement in academic medicine, the Albany Medical College chapter had 5 National Award winners at the BNGAP 10th Anniversary/2nd Pre-Faculty Conference in January 2020. Winners of the National Trainee Leadership Award  included Tristan Boyer ('20),  Roselande Marcellon ('21), Samir El Sawaf ('22), Grace Rivera Owen ('20), and Sarah Martinez ('20). Albany Medical College won 30% of the national awards in that category. 

Events and Initiatives 

BNGAP sponsors and puts on many events at the College, including:

• A monthly session to address common questions about research, in partnership with the Assistant Dean for Student Research and Scholarly Activity, Dr. Sidhu

• Mentorship events

• Research workshop series 

• Regional and National Conferences 

Leadership

Current BNGAP leadership at AMC includes:

• President: Nicole Hernandez

• Vice President: Dharshini Suresh

• Secretary: Monique John

• Treasurer: Rama Blankson

• Research Liaison: Joshua Davis

• USA Chair and PR Chair: Laura Ramirez

• Mentorship Board: D'Nea Galbraith, Grace Fagbenro, and Ikheme Precious Itegboje 

Past BNGAP leadership includes D'Nea Galbraith (Class of '25), Grace Fagbenro (Class of '26), Ikheme Precious Itegboje (Class of '26), Sierra Vincent (Class of '26), Dharshini Suresh (Class of '26), Marwan Abbas (Class of '26), Joshua Davis (Class of '26), Mason Horne (Class of '25), D'Nea Galbraith (Class of '25), Alvarho Guzman (Class of '25), Devante Bryant-Nurse (Class of '25), Sarah McKay (Class of '25), Tina Nassehi (Class of '25), Jessmehar Walia (Class of '25), Megan Gupta (Class of '25), Nicholas Brutus (Class of '24), Symone Reid (Class of '24), Ali Alasady (Class of '24), Andrew Mogga (Class of '24), Ann Lin (Class of '24), Isha Doshi (Class of '24), Jessmehar Walia (Class of '24), Amit Ratanpal (Class of '24), Sarah Martínez (Class of '22), Julie Dalton, Michele Cerasani, Andria Lam, Deborah Steinberg, Ann Lin, Michelle Williams, Zohal Ghulam-Jelani (Class of 20), Mi'yante Newton (Class of '20), and Nkeiruka Umeh (Class of '20).

Get Connected

Interested in getting involved, learning more about us, or meeting with a BNGAP representative when you interview at Albany Med? Reach out to us using our email below:

✉ bngap.albanymed@gmail.com