If you’ve ever gone to the University Health Center for a check-up or a flu shot, you may have been welcomed by a friendly public health student – someone like Nick Marzouk ’26, a former paramedic and public health science major from Annapolis, who was one of a dozen student medical assistants helping care for our campus last year.
Perhaps you got your flu shot – as SPH Dean Boris Lushniak did! – from public health science student Caley Navins ’26, an EMT who worked at the center for two years supporting patient triaging and vaccinations and taking EKGs. Or maybe you filled in a patient satisfaction survey created by another SPH student, Abigail Bolcik ’26, who also helped give vaccinations, take vitals and other patient care across UHC units.
SPH in the building
In fact, since a student healthcare intern program began three years ago, the majority of student medical assistants (MAs) at UMD’s health center have come from the School of Public Health (SPH) – undergraduate students putting their coursework to use and gaining mentorship from practicing health professionals. The enthusiasm is strong among current and past MAs, many of whom said they wished they could keep working at UHC after graduation.
What made their time so special? For Bolcik, a double public health science and psychology major, it was participating in the exact things that she was learning about in class: “I was reading about population immunization and herd immunity in public health classes, and then I was doing vaccinations at the health center, contributing to herd immunity in my community, which was super cool!” she said.
I was reading about population immunization and herd immunity in public health classes, and then I was doing vaccinations at the health center, contributing to herd immunity in my community, which was super cool!
Abigail Bolcik ’26
Public Health Science graduate
“Our enthusiasm comes from us finding a perfect, practical way to apply our education right here on campus to help people,” said Marzouk, who wants to go to nursing school after his experience as a medical assistant.
“It’s also about the incredible people, especially Maysam [Altafi] and Heather [Teitelbaum]. They made such an inclusive and educational and inspiring environment for us. We really were a team – it was a collaborative experience, and I was able to learn so much,” said Navins, who is applying to medical school, aiming to become a surgeon and practice in underserved communities.
From student to teacher
Altafi and Teitelbaum created the student MA program in 2023 and recruit, train and mentor around a dozen undergraduates every year.
Altafi, a physician assistant (PA), spends a full day taking care of patients — often pulling in student MAs to observe him for a learning moment. Then after the clinic closes, he leads mentorship meetings and educational presentations for the student MA team.
“Maysam really cares about our futures. He acts like it is the lightest thing in the world to mentor us after a full day’s work,” said Marzouk.
Altafi’s dedication is rooted in his own experience working at the health center while studying biology at UMD over a decade ago.
“If it weren’t for this place, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” said Altafi. “I was pre-med. But I hadn’t had opportunities for clinical experience or to get exposed to other people. I didn't even know what a PA was until I started working at the health center. There I met Heather and other PAs and everything changed for me.”
After graduating in 2015, Altafi went on to PA school and returned to work at the health center in 2022.
Preparing students for today’s health care industry
Teitelbaum and Altafi’s program has thus far mentored 31 student medical assistants and receives hundreds of applications every year. Applicants, from any UMD school, must have prior certification as a medical assistant, a paramedic or an EMT. Accepted student MAs are eligible for class credit and gain hours of hands-on clinical work experience, which count towards the hours required to apply to professional programs like physician assistant school.
“It’s an incredible full circle moment to see Maysam, the student intern I knew then, return and give back in this really meaningful way,” said Teitelbaum ’01, a kinesiology alum, who is also a physician assistant as well as the health center’s associate director of medical services and chief medical information officer.
“As a PA, clinically, you want to improve people’s health. But it is also so rewarding to see these students growing and learning new skills. Many students come back for a second year. So you really see the growth – not just in the skills, but in their confidence and maturity.”
Darlene Pineda-Fandino ’27, another SPH public health science student, is back again for her second and final year. She now helps train the incoming cohort. Pineda-Fandino’s drive to work in healthcare is rooted in the painful experience of multiple cancer diagnoses in her family. She says working at the health center provides her the in-depth, people-centered clinical experience she was looking for.
“I love working here. All the providers I've worked with, whether in primary care or in immunization or in acute care, they're all so willing to teach,” said Pineda-Fandino, who plans to become an oncologist.
Experiential class
Teitelbaum and Altafi wish they could offer these kinds of internships to more students. In lieu of that they are working with SPH’s Public Health Science Director Kristin Cipriani and Experiential Learning Manager Shannon Edward to launch a new course Spring 2027 designed to give students the closest thing to hands-on clinical experience.
“We love to bring experiential learning into the classroom. This new class is for all students, but especially for public health students who we know are eager to engage in a healthcare setting,” said Cipriani.
Dr. Spyridon Marinopoulos, the health center’s director and UMD’s chief medical officer, champions the MA program and the ongoing collaborations between SPH and clinical medicine at UMD.
“We want to make a difference in the real world, in our community. And that's where the missions of SPH and the health center meet and we can do great things,” said Marinopoulos.
Cross-campus collaboration
Several collaborations between the health center and SPH continue to improve both clinical offerings and public health research and teaching: from SPH substance-use experts working with UHC programs to Dr. Donald Milton’s germicidal UV light pilot study at the health center, to Dr. Michel Boudreaux’s work with Marinopoulos around financing models to expand student access to care. Milton and Marinopoulos also work together to ensure the campus is prepared for infectious disease outbreaks.
Several SPH alums work at the health center and some health center providers teach classes in SPH. Others work across both entities as School of Public health lecturers while also leading direct services at the health center.
Caring for a campus community of over 50,000 people – students, staff and faculty as well as some family and alumni – is a huge job, one that benefits from such deep and ongoing collaborations.
Student MAs get the singular experience of interacting with full-time MAs, nurses and medical staff who go beyond their job as providers to share their expertise, significantly deepening student MAs’ on-the-job training. And the enthusiasm and energy that student medical assistants bring is rooted in a passion to support UMD’s wellbeing and contribute to public health beyond campus.
“Just working there, I built so many professional relationships,” said Pineda-Fandino. “And if you stay long enough, you begin to build relationships with your patients. I really like that aspect of healthcare where you build a relationship and a whole family is able to trust you.”
