The Health Professions Advisory Office lost two of its advisors in August, leaving only one HPAO Advisor, Chris King, to assist undergraduates applying in the upcoming 2025-26 medical school application cycle. To accommodate its staff shortage, HPAO will hold walk-in hours each week to answer students’ questions.
HPAO Program Manager and Pre-Health Advisor Lauren Rains left in early August to become a Graduate Medical Education Business Analyst at HCA Healthcare. Michelle Grundy, the previous HPAO office director, stepped down on Aug. 15 after accepting a position as a biology professor and director of the Biomedical Sciences graduate program at Vanderbilt.
In emails sent to the HPAO community in August, Grundy and King both affirmed that students applying in the 2025-26 medical school application cycle will still receive their committee letters as expected despite the staffing changes.
A junior pre-med transfer student — being kept anonymous for protection from retribution — shared that one of her challenges with HPAO has been getting her questions adequately addressed.
“As a transfer student I already feel lost and behind in the pre-med world,” the student said. “I would prefer more guidance and communication from HPAO, as in my experience, they’re not great at answering questions or responding to emails.”
New this year, HPAO will host walk-in hours Monday through Friday to answer time-sensitive questions for students. King originally hosted these hours, but since Aug. 27, HPAO peer health advisors have taken over, hosting them independently.
“Drawing from their personal experiences and training, [peer health advisors] offer students excellent advice and know to refer any questions beyond their scope to a staff advisor,” King said.
Training for peer health advisors consisted of a two hour introductory meeting, a week of shadowing King during walk-in hours and a FERPA compliance training — ensuring the privacy of students’ educational records. Peer health advisors also have weekly check-ins with King.
In addition to their new role in running walk-in hours, peer health advisors will maintain their previous responsibilities, which include offering guidance based on their own respective experiences and getting students access to additional tools.
“They [peer health advisors] are invaluable in helping students navigate Vanderbilt’s extensive resources, including research opportunities, clinical exposure options and other extracurricular activities,” King said.
According to King, HPAO is currently in the process of hiring candidates to replace Grundy and Rains.
“We expect to have the new director in place later this fall semester,” King said. “Once the director is onboarded, they will lead the process of filling the remaining vacant position in our office.”
HPAO sought additional support from an advising company that specializes in pre-med and pre-health advising.
“This external support will enable us to offer additional advising appointments and workshops tailored to students across all pre-health pathways. We will formally announce our partnership in the coming weeks,” King said. “This external support will be available throughout the fall semester, ensuring continuity in student support while we work to fill our vacant positions.”
King also pointed to Beatrice Juskeviciute, the Vandy in Health career coach, as another newly introduced resource for students. Juskeviciute primarily works with students whose career aspirations lie outside of clinical healthcare, such as healthcare management, health care analytics and more.
“While her primary role is supporting students interested in non-clinical healthcare careers,” King said, “she has also been assisting with pre-health advising to help meet student demand.”
