I’ve gotten to know him through the RUSA Allocations Board, where he serves as our dazzling Secretary. Josh is a senior from Staten Island graduating with a degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and pursuing a Certificate in Chemistry Education. After graduation, Josh will attend Robert Wood Johnson Medical School as part of the competitive seven year BA/MD program. Congrats!!
What are some of the things you are involved in on campus?
Besides serving as the Secretary of the RUSA Allocations Board, I am a brother of Delta Upsilon and just finished up my term as the Vice President of Recruitment for the Interfraternity Council. I also serve as a Peer Instructor for the Aresty Research Center, the co-President of JMED: The Jewish Pre-Health Professions Network and a Teaching Intern for the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
What has been your favorite experience thus far at Rutgers?
Rutgers has helped me meet some of my best friends, whom I have shared many awesome experiences with. One of my favorite experiences definitely has to be Dance Marathon. It was great to see so many students come together to support the Embrace Kids Foundation. Every member of my fraternity participated in some capacity, so I was happy to have some shoulders to lean on during those 12 hours!
What are you going to miss most about being an undergraduate? What are you looking forward to most at Robert Wood Johnson?
The sheer amount of opportunities available to opportunities to get involved.
By serving on the Allocations Board, I was able to work with a wide array of students on campus to ensure that they could fulfill the missions of their respective organizations. Extracurricular activities add another dimension to the education students receive at Rutgers University. For instance, my involvement on campus has helped me discover a passion for teaching, which I intend to continue to pursue while in medical school.
I will definitely miss my undergraduate years, but I’m really looking forward to starting medical school because I will finally have the opportunity to start applying the information I learn in my classes in order to treat patients. I’m even more excited to meet all of the people I will be spending the majority of my time with for the next four years.
When did you realize that you want to be a doctor?
Unfortunately, I don’t have one particular moment that clearly indicated that pursuing a career in healthcare was right for me – rather a collection of moments over time that guided me towards making the decision to apply to medical school. As many pre-medical students, I was first attracted to how medicine was portrayed in television shows such as House and Grey’s Anatomy. My interest in medicine blossomed while reading The Gifted Hands by Dr. Benjamin Carson. Dr. Carson also introduced me to the field of neurological surgery, a medical specialty that I hope to pursue in the future. I believe that the human brain is one of the most puzzling entities of our universe and the prospect of learning as much as I can about the human brain and nervous system is very exciting. I hope to be able to apply the information I learn in medical school and beyond to help treat the various mysterious diseases that threaten not only our physical capabilities, but also the characteristics that define who we are as unique individuals. Finally, my passion for medicine solidified during the shadowing opportunities that I have been very fortunate to acquire. These experiences helped me understand the aspects of medicine that relate to science, art, and business. I am very excited to continue my journey towards becoming a doctor.
How did you become interested in DJing?
Honestly, in high school, I would spend my free time messing around with music and creating mashups. Then, after DJing my first event in college, I realized that I love igniting the crowd with my favorite throwbacks (Usher, baby). Recently, I started getting interested in music production as well, but it’s much harder in my opinion.
If you could only listen to one artist/band for the rest of your life, who would you pick?
Wow, difficult question. At the moment, I’m a big fan of both G-Eazy and Drake, so I think I could probably live off of them for a while.
What do you use in your hair? Who is your hair inspiration (if you have one)?
I use two products – Hanz de Fuko’s Scheme Cream and Claymation. I use the first one as a styling cream and the second for it’s strong holding qualities. Justin Timberlake is my hair inspiration – you have to have a hair inspiration!
Note: I then brought up JT’s ramen hair phase, so Josh suggested Johnny Bravo instead.
Are you doing anything fun over winter break?
I’m planning on taking a music production course that introduces students to the industry standard production software – Logic Pro. There is just so much to learn about that program. I’m also going on a one-week educational trip to Poland with some of the Jewish student leaders on campus.