STRATEGIC PLANNING

Dr. Mehta is the founder of MedSchoolCoach and nationally known as one of the premier experts in medical school admissions. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Columbia University in New York City with a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering. He finished his degree with the highest GPA in the Civil Engineering major. He was accepted to three of the top ten medical schools in the country and chose to attend the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he graduated with research honors.

He then trained in medicine and surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and then was a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School and resident at BIDMC/HMS. He then completed a Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Academically, he has presented his work at multiple national meetings, including SIR and RSNA, and has been published in multiple peer reviewed journals. He has a clinical interest in interventional radiology treatments for cancer patients, women and emergency situations.

Dr. Mehta is a practicing Interventional Radiologist specializing in minimally invasive endovascular and percutaneous procedures in order to eliminate cancer, pain, stop life threatening bleeding and more.

Sahil has been involved in admissions consulting and tutoring for years. As the founder of MedSchoolCoach, he has a hand in thousands of medical school applications. His experience helping applicants of all types navigate the admissions process is unparalleled.

Dr. Marinelli graduated magna cum laude from California State University, San Marcos with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. While attending school, she worked for a neurosurgeon where she led clinical trials, taught biology as a supplemental instruction leader. Dr. Marinelli was accepted to multiple medical schools and attended the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine where she served on the admissions committee and interviewed many applicants. In medical school, she met her future husband and MedSchoolCoach advisor, Dr. David Flick. After medical school, both Dr. Marinelli and her husband attended family medicine residency in Hawaii where she also served on the residency admissions committee. After her son was born, she decided to step away from clinical medicine and joined the MedSchoolCoach team. Since that time, she has mentored and assisted hundreds of students in the medical school admissions process and brings a wealth of experience serving on both medical school and residency admission committees.

Dr. Marinelli is the Director of Advisors at MedSchoolCoach where she continues to advise applicants but also serves to oversee all of the advising applicants. She is excited to continue to provide guidance to students while spending quality time with her son.

Dr. Bababeygy received his M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine, where he served 4 years on the Admissions Committee. He is a former Research Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He completed his Vitreo-Retina Surgery training in California where he is currently practicing. He has published over 70 abstracts and peer-reviewed publications in the fields of neurosurgery and ophthalmology, contributing to significant advances in protein therapeutics, neural stem cells, and eye surgery. Additionally, he is a journal Peer Reviewer for multiple indexed medical journals, and serves as a Scientific Advisory Board Member for current Clinical Trials/Drugs in Ophthalmology. He has over 8 years of medical school admission consulting experience with a 96% admissions acceptance rate for his students.

Dr. Newsha Lajevardi is a board certified dermatologist who practices medical, pediatric and cosmetic dermatology, cutaneous surgery, and laser surgery.
She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Northwestern University and then went on to complete her master’s degree in medical sciences at the Boston University School of Medicine. During her time at Boston University she completed coursework alongside medical students and intricately learned about the medical school admissions process through extensive mentorship with the Boston University deans of admission. Additionally, she was an academic tutor for other medical and dental students in physiology, endocrinology, and immunology. Before attending medical school, she conducted translational medicine research at the Boston University department of dermatology followed by clinical research at the Boston University section of endocrinology.

Given her nontraditional path to medical school, Dr. Lajevardi has extensive experience with the unique challenges of post-baccalaureate and nontraditional applicants to medical school. Even before joining Medschoolcoach she was closely involved with essay editing and interview preparation for family and friends applying to medical school.

Dr. Lajevardi received her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She completed her internship in internal medicine at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. Finally, she completed her dermatology residency at the prestigious Brown University Department of Dermatology. Following her training she joined the department at Brown as an attending dermatologist and Assistant Professor of Dermatology.

During her time at Brown University, she was highly involved in the application and interview process for prospective dermatology residents. She also serves as a mentor to Michigan State University medical students interested applying to the field of dermatology. Additionally, she has lectured to other physicians at both regional and national meetings and has been published in major medical journals.  As a native to Miami and after spending many years enduring harsh Midwestern and New England winters, Dr. Lajevardi recently returned back home to South Florida with her family and practices in Fort Lauderdale.

Dr. Gillihan spent most of his time growing up focusing on athletics and working towards his goal of becoming a professional baseball player. However, plans quickly changed for him during his second year of college when he suffered an injury that forced him to rethink his career goals. It was at this time that he decided to pursue a career in medicine. After graduating from Missouri State University, he spent time in translational research labs at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where he eventually attended medical school. Dr. Gillihan continued his scientific endeavors during medical school, where he was awarded an Alpha Omega Alpha Student Research Fellowship and a grant from the American Society of Nephrology for his work in the lab. Dr. Gillihan is also an accomplished medical writer, having successfully published over 15 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, all while continuing to exceed academically, graduating near the top of his medical school class and matching into his top choice residency program in Dermatology at the University of Florida where he is currently located.

During his time in medical school, Dr. Gillihan was intricately involved with the admissions process and advising of pre-medical students, using his unique background to help numerous students gain acceptance into medical schools across the country, which he has continued to do here at MedSchoolCoach. Dr. Gillihan is passionate about working with college students who share in his passion for becoming a physician, no matter what background they come from. He is excited to be able to continue to use his life experiences and unique path to medicine to help others achieve their goals.

Dr. Lipsit graduated from Yeshiva University in New York and obtained his medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Following a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at The George Washington University Medical Center as Chief Resident, he pursued a fellowship in Diagnostic Ultrasound at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He then returned to The George Washington University Hospital to become the Director of Diagnostic Ultrasound. Dr. Lipsit is Board Certified in Diagnostic Radiology and for 20 years served as President of Washington Radiology Associates, the largest provider of outpatient medical imaging in the Washington metropolitan area.

Dr. Lipsit has published articles in peer reviewed medical journals and texts and has lectured both domestically and abroad. Dr. Lipsit retired from active clinical practice in 2016 and is currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Radiology at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He serves as an educational consultant to multiple organizations and has been on the clinical faculty and a member of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Dr. Lipsit has been involved in admissions consulting for the past few years, joining the MedSchoolCoach team in 2015. He brings with him a wealth of experience and tremendous enthusiasm to help applicants gain admission to medical school and become physician leaders.