Dr. Marinelli is an advisor at MedSchoolCoach and former admissions committee member at UC Irvine School of Medicine. Her insight into the application process is second to none! We sat down with Dr. Marinelli to ask her a few questions about her clinical residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.
Could you tell us a little bit about your specialty, what you do and then a little bit about what your typical day entails?
Sure. I went to medical school at the University of California Irvine and I graduated from there in 2013. Then I went to Tripler Army Medical Centre in Honolulu Hawaii, where I went to a family medicine residency program with my husband (who was an army physician there) which is why we went to the army residency program. However, about half way through my residency program I had a baby. After talking to many different people on what to do, and after a lot of contemplation, I decided to take a kind of prolonged leave of absence from my residency and stay home with my son. Right now, I’m actually not practicing medicine, I have my medical license to practise, but at this time I am just being a stay at home mom and working with MedSchoolCoach as a consultant.
When you were practicing, what kind of work did that include?
I was doing primary care medicine, so it was kind of a unique training because I was at an army hospital so I primarily saw active duty soldiers and then their family members. I actually saw new born babies all the way up to elderly patients in their 90’s. I took care of pregnant women and all types of patients. So I did enjoy that practice and probably when my son is a little older and maybe school age, I plan on returning back into practice, but for right now while he is still really young, I am just enjoying this time with him and this is kind of where I need to be right now.
Do you have any general advice for medical school applicants?
Then, just some general advice as far as on your road to becoming a doctor, I would just say enjoy it. For me, the undergraduate years weren’t the most fun time in my life, but medical school was absolutely great and it was probably some of the best four years of my life. It was difficult and challenging and each day was a new challenge and every test I couldn’t believe, they seemed like they kept getting harder. But somehow when you are with one hundred or so like-minded individuals, you come together as a group and you really just succeed together. I think that it was just one of the best times and I enjoyed it during the time I was there, and I can reminisce with my friends from medical school. I met my husband in medical school, I remark with him all the time about how much we loved that time and we do miss it; we are happy where we are right now, but it does go by pretty fast although it may
“If you’re on your road to becoming a doctor, my advice would be to enjoy it.”
It seems like a long time while you are there. Just enjoy that time, because it is really special and it is a great time and something that is pretty invaluable.
