Jessica Sima

Degree: 
BA
Year: 
2022
Current Position Title: 
Podiatric Medical Student
Current Employer: 
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, School of Podiatric Medicine

Q. What aspects of your MCB degree program best helped you prepare for your career?

A. Berkeley's MCB department sends out newsletters and provides tutoring, and premed advising for students to gather information and prepare themselves better for their careers. I really appreciated these resources as I used them to find research and volunteering opportunities. I was also able to talk to a lot of researchers and professors that are very influential to the field. Getting to know them and their insights on research and medicine was something really motivational to me.

Q. How did you decide on your current career path?

A. I have always been interested in pursuing a career in biology and medicine. I got involved in doing research, shadowing physicians, and working in the clinic. After experiencing how it is to work in different fields (research or clinic), I learned that I liked medicine and patient care more. Later, through shadowing different specialists, I became interested in podiatry and decided to pursue it as a career.

Q. Share your favorite Berkeley lunch place, coffee shop, landmark study spot...etc. 

A. Mezzo on Telegraph Avenue is one of my favorite study places. My friends and I used to go there almost every day during exam seasons. I loved the ambience there as well as the food and their cookies. I highly recommend checking it out!