Jessica Priddy was recently appointed as director of the Health Professions Advisory Office, following her previous role as director of the Pre-Professional Health & Law Support Services at Oklahoma State University. The HPAO announced her appointment to students in their Listserv through an email sent on Dec. 5, 2024.
The Hustler sat down with Priddy earlier this week to discuss her goals as director and how she hopes to shape the pre-health student population on campus. Priddy also discussed the HPAO’s current status on providing committee letters and the potential for this policy to change with the more recent holistic process for graduate school admissions in the field of medicine.
The Vanderbilt Hustler: What was the hiring process you had to undergo prior to accepting your position as HPAO director?
Priddy: When I was at my meeting for the National Association for Health Professional Advisors, I heard [they] were doing a search for a director position at Vanderbilt. From there, I went through a process with various rounds. One round was doing a one-way interface, kind of a pre-session for many candidates, so I didn’t actually meet with the committee until the second round. We did a round team interview from a distance because I was at Oklahoma State University at the time, serving as a director there for health professions advising. And from there, we just had a dialogue. There were various constituents in the room, from faculty to people on the Career Center team to administration. From there, I had the opportunity to come to campus and do a full interview and presentation to talk about the vision of what I wanted to do if I was selected as the director.
The biggest takeaway for me throughout the process was that the more I was engaging and learning about what Vanderbilt was doing and wanting to do, it inspired me further to actually take the position. I was really inspired by the chancellor and the vision for the next generation of what [the university] wants to do to help impact not only Vanderbilt students, but [also] the community, especially in healthcare, because that’s a huge need in our communities. There’s so many great needs that we need to fulfill, especially with [the Nashville] region growing in every direction.
What are your specific visions or goals as director?
I’ve only been here about two months, [but] this is my fifth comprehensive university to serve in 16 years. I think the big takeaway [I have learned is to] listen [and] understand. I’ve spent a lot of time absorbing. When you talk about what the plans are right now, I have a vision of making sure that all of our pre-health students have a compass through their pre-professional journey. There are so many phases of what matters in your growth, not just getting into professional school, but also engaging with what the real world needs are within healthcare industries. It is not just [that] we’re looking for an intelligent individual in healthcare. We need individuals who can be innovative, help shift the industry and improve services to help our communities and, at the end of the day, people’s lives. A core mission of what I envision is [making] sure that we’re diving much deeper into that pre-professional journey for each student and learner. I don’t see every student as just a student. I see you guys as a person, a scholar [and] a professional.
I definitely want to make sure that we’re working to meet students where they’re at, at an earlier phase. I’ve been doing a lot of that already by starting to meet with key constituents across campus and our partners. We love seeing students. I love having the opportunity to see students in appointments, but I also know that the world is different. You guys have very busy schedules. We need to think about how we can build things in a way that is more accessible for all students. There’s so many roles in the healthcare team and also non-clinical roles. We want to make sure that if you’re exploring healthcare, [you know] it’s not just a degree [that is going] to equate success. We hope [the degree] is a byproduct of all the growth that is going to lead [you] toward where you want to be.
When I say [“earlier phase”], I mean making sure that you have adequate space, time and engagement to explore the entire healthcare team. It’s much more interdisciplinary — knowing and engaging not just to know why you want to do a specific role, but to better understand the entire healthcare team. We’re seeing that, even in professional schools, [students are] taking classes together in professional team-based care learning. It’s almost like saying, “Don’t just learn one position on a football team.” We need to know where the entire team’s role is because we’re now working in the field of healthcare together. So when I talk about exploration, it’s not just to help a student determine what they want to do, but also understand the broader sense of how they’re going to work within that team.
I’ve been meeting with some of the [major] advisors on campus and some of the VUMC constituents to talk about processes and streamlining existing things [in our] programming. I know, for example, there’s a shadowing program that we’ve had for a while. I’ve actually been rolling up my sleeves and kind of saying, “What are we noticing that maybe is not as efficient or effective, or how are we making sure [the program’s] accessible to more students?”
I still have a lot of meetings set to talk [with] our colleagues in the region for professional school and discuss to make sure we’re aligning and helping each other with what’s best to help our students be prepared. There’s also the National Health Care Council, which I’m now aware that we do have some minglings [with] already about looking at opportunities for students to get more understanding of industries, especially non-clinical.
In what ways can students engage with you or the HPAO office?
I’m brainstorming a little bit with the team, thinking about how we make more layers of accessibility. And I’ll be honest with you, we realize there’s over 1000 pre-health students. There’s only a few of us [in HPAO], so we’ve gone to a phased approach where we’re thinking about [the fact that] sometimes students may just need access to things that we already have — maybe they didn’t realize it. For example, we want to drive students toward saying, “Hey, have you joined our Brightspace page?” We’ve now added a discussion board for basic questions. We actually have somebody checking that on our team, and hundreds of students are now able to see the same response. So, we’re finding more creative ways that we can get questions answered for students. We’ve also implemented what we call peer-to-peer health professional advisory hours. We have them each week for drop-in questions that we’ve trained a lot of our students to be able to [answer], and most of them are seniors or rising students [who] are headed to professional school. We still have appointments in Handshake [at] different times of the year.
There’s also something called the committee letter process. Right now, [there are] over 250 students that are being locked into my appointment bookings. We’re actually starting to look at how we can do small group discussions or programming so we can reach more students versus a one-on-one model. We also have support for students who are exploring [pre-health careers], in general. One of my visions with the appointment bookings is [to] think more thoughtfully about how we can see [students’] needs and then toggle toward what resources we [can] develop that are going to help me be a little more proactive instead of [using a] reactive model.
There’s a lot of ways to do programming for students, but at the end of the day, this is a national issue. All my colleagues for pre-health advising, we all face the same challenges. There’s just a lot of students, and there’s only so many of us to have access to, but one of my big missions right now is actually upgrading how to request letters of recommendations. I went through the process with the company, got it cleaned up and it’s now more student friendly. It’s going a lot more smoothly. One of my big roles as director is not just to see students, but to anticipate and see what challenges [they face] — what bottlenecks have we had that perhaps [made the recommendation process] not very easy to use, or maybe students had confusion. Really big on that — if it doesn’t make sense to a student, then we should look at that.
I’ll be honest with you, it’s always a challenge. I love challenges. I love problem solving. Every campus I’ve been at — I’m not gonna sugar coat it — there’s always challenges about how you meet students. It’s just more complex than it used to be. 20 [to] 30 years ago, the industry was more just, “There’s some prerequisites, and let’s help you with some tips about applying.” And now with the [Association of American Medical Colleges’] core competencies for medical students, the way they’re assessing [applications is] a positive thing. I love what they’re doing. It’s very much a good thing for the industry, but that then creates new challenges of how we now innovate to make sure we’re doing a more robust job of supporting [students]. That’s why I go to association meetings like the NAAHP [and] talk to colleagues. All of us are pushing each other about our practices to make it more [about] how we innovate at our campuses. So, I’m excited to bring that insight and background here. I want to make sure that all students feel heard and that they have a chance to access resources, no matter how they feel comfortable to engage with us, whether it’s directly or indirectly.
What steps are being taken to ensure that the transition within the HPAO office is smooth for students?
I arrived here just before the winter break, so getting onboarding basics [completed is] a transition. Graciously, I’ve definitely taken some time to kind of absorb and learn [because], obviously from an outsider in, it’s a little different. I would say with the transition, the big focus is just the timing [and] being very upfront with [students]. There was obviously the timing of the committee letter process, so about 80% of my energy has been working toward formulating more modern-era practices to support students with that. I did a huge rollout for [committee letters] to make sure that students were up to speed — better instructions, resources and support through that process.
Thankfully, I’ve had the support from my existing team. They’ve done a great job to support students [through] appointments and knowing that I needed a little time to get settled in and focus on what is the top priority for students, especially knowing that the admissions cycle will be starting again in the summer. I also recognize there are so many students that are not doing that process who also need support and services, so I’ve started to dive into our Brightspace resources. My goal is, yes, to focus on [committee letters], because it’s that peak time where I’m seeing those students to help with that process, but also balancing and pulling back at least a little time each week to start chipping away at those other needs.
Is the HPAO going to continue providing committee letters?
Right now, that’s what we’re doing. There is a national movement [across pre-health advising offices] toward how we holistically develop students. We’re seeing some institutions actually say [they] want to focus more energy on their holistic growth and maybe not do a committee letter process. So, the takeaway is, I’m not sure either because [of] the amount of time it takes to do those letters. I’ve served on the medical admissions committees — individual letters are just as warranted.
I think the committee letter is a great way to introduce and help to know a student beyond those experiences, and that’s what our assessments are doing right with our current process. It’s been a rich tradition to do those historically — back in the day when there was less practice of holistic review. All my colleagues are talking about [how] we’re seeing more of a movement toward [committee letters being] an option. For 98% of schools, if you showed me a list of medical schools across the U.S. or dental schools, [a committee letter is] an option. It’s more about the quality of what they have to say about you. Actually, one of the guides that I just updated is also to empower you. If you’re talking to a mentor who’s going to write you a letter of recommendation, give them best practices to ensure they’re writing an effective letter. I know at Vanderbilt, there’s always been encouragement to get [committee letters] in the past, which I think is great, but, again, the industry is shifting. Regardless of what happens in the future, it’s always an option for students. I want to be transparent with you. I think that there could be a time where [this process] may look different.
