Quinnipiac University Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine

Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine Student Life

Medical school will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. We also know that finding integration between studying and life over the next few years will be vital to your academic and personal success. To this end, we provide you with the experiences and activities to develop professionally and personally while also developing lasting relationships with mentors and friends.

Your life, in and out of medicine

Medicine students playing a life-size version of the game "Operation" on the lawn.

Become part of a medical community, not just a class

Through a network of student-focused services and groups, you’ll enjoy the benefits of a supportive and close-knit community. The Office of Student Affairs will guide you throughout your medical school career, acting as your compass from the White Coat Ceremony to Commencement. As our alumni base grows, you also have an expanding network of graduates committed to supporting those who follow in their footsteps.

Upon matriculation, you’ll be assigned an academic adviser, as well as a second-year “Big Sib” who will help you transition into your first year of medical school. These relationships will provide a source of guidance, mentoring and friendship that you can count on over the next four years.

During years three and four, you’ll work with career advisers who will help you find the right specialty, plan your clinical years and navigate your residency application process. They’ll gauge your career goals against your personal skills and aptitudes while specialty advisers will offer their guidance on skill and lifestyle considerations for specific areas of interest.

Our learning communities, faculty and staff provide all of the support and resources you’ll need from your first day all the way to graduation, placing you on a path toward a long and meaningful medical career.

Maria Mastropaolo, plays video

Maria Unleashed

See how Quinnipiac University and Quinnipiac University's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine helped Maria Mastopaolo '18, MD '23, unleash her ambition.

Student Spotlight

Gabrielle Donofrio poses smiling in front of a gray background
Medical student works to eliminate language barriers to better communicate, treat her future patients

June 15, 2023

Gabrielle Donofrio, MD ’25, knew from the beginning that she wanted to pursue her Spanish education at Quinnipiac.
Read More on QU Today

Personal and professional development through narrative medicine

The Scholarly Reflection and Concentration/Capstone (SRCC) is a four-year course that allows you to personalize your curriculum. You'll pursue a scholarly interest through a longitudinal, mentored project while gaining valuable hands-on experience that helps to prepare you for success in residency and provides a foundation for building a career as a physician.

Recent capstones

Through a Patient's Eyes

Taylor Schofield, MD ’24 created this project with the goal of humanizing the patient experience by highlighting the non-clinical impact of a life-altering illnesses such as cancer.

View Taylor's project

Photography, Agency and Expression

A profoundly humanitarian and artistic view of homelessness, provided from the perspective of homeless individuals he’s assisted, threads four years of effort undertaken by Benjamin Gaylord, MD ’24.

View Benjamin's project

Bringing wellness to the greater community

A physician holds the highest commitment to the communities he or she serves, and nothing is more gratifying or energizing than bringing health and wellness to those communities. A range of partnerships and community service initiatives enable you to use your valuable knowledge and skills to make a real difference in people’s lives.

Opportunities for service might include:

The Bobcat Community Health Alliance is a student-run, volunteer clinic for underserved communities in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It provides medical students an opportunity to learn about the unique challenges of caring for vulnerable populations.

Learn More

The health professions pipeline program aims to increase the number of individuals underrepresented in medicine and provide a more diverse workforce to meet the health care needs of the communities they serve.

Student Interest Groups

Our many student-driven interest and co-curricular groups enable you to pursue your specific medical interests and address modern health care issues. These groups, in addition to student government, also give you a voice in shaping your education and overall student experience.

There are also many opportunities to stay active, including intramurals or clubs dedicated to getting you off campus and flexing your non-clinical muscles.

We offer more than 40 interest and co-curricular student groups, and we're continually adding more:

  • Addiction Medicine Interest Group
  • American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
  • American Medical Women’s Association (AMA)
  • Anesthesiology Interest Group
  • Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA)
  • Bioethics Interest Group
  • Biomedical Innovation Club
  • Bobcat Community Health Alliance
  • Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP)
  • Cheshire Wellness Fridays
  • Dermatology Interest Group
  • ENT-Surgery Interest Group
  • Equity Inclusion and Diversity Collaborative (EID-C)
  • Family Medicine Interest Group
  • Genomics and Personalized Medicine Group
  • Global Public Health Interest Group
  • Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS)
  • Healthcare VITALS
  • Hematology-Oncology Interest Group
  • Human Health and Climate Change
  • Human Trafficking Prevention Project
  • Infectious Disease Interest Group
  • Internal Medicine Interest Group
  • Interprofessional Anatomy
  • Interprofessional Emergency Medicine Interest Group (IEMIG)
  • Interprofessional Geriatric Health Interest Group
  • Interprofessional OB/GYN Interest Group
  • Jewish Medical Student Association
  • LMSA Latino Medical Student Association
  • Medical Spanish
  • Medical Students for Choice
  • Military Medicine Interest Group
  • Netter Alternative Breaks
  • Netter Bible Study
  • Netter First - Generation Alliance
  • Netter Life Style Medicine
  • Netter Notes
  • Netter Pride Alliance
  • Netter Visual Arts Society
  • Neurology Interest Group
  • Ophthalmology Interest Group
  • Orthopedic Interest Group
  • Pediatric Interest Group
  • Peer Fellows
  • Primary Care Progress
  • Psychiatry Interest Group
  • Radiology Interest Group
  • SAFE (Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic) Interest Group
  • Student National Medical Association (SNMA)
  • Surgery Interest Group
  • Wilderness Medicine Interest Group

Milestones

Group of graduate students cheering and hugging

Watch: Match Day 2023

We support and celebrate the many accomplishments of our students — from the first day of their medical school journey to their last.

At the White Coat Ceremony, we welcome our newest members of the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine. On this euphoric day, the university and School of Medicine leadership join your family and friends as you receive your white coat and stethoscope and celebrate the beginning of your studies. The coat symbolizes your first step on the road to becoming a physician.

To bookend your medical school experience, the School of Medicine celebrates each graduating class on Match Day, when residencies are revealed. Few occasions are as significant in the life of a future physician, and you can be sure Quinnipiac treats it with the importance it deserves.

Learn more about Match Day

Commencement isn’t an end, but a beginning. This is a day to commemorate the hard work and sacrifice you’ve put in over your time in the program, and look ahead with excitement to the career that awaits you. When you walk off the stage that day in May with your MD diploma, you carry on a tradition of excellence that began with our inaugural Class of 2017.

Health and Wellness

Sometimes the most difficult health problems to confront may be your own. That’s why we’re as committed to meeting your physical and mental health needs as you are to meeting the needs of those you’ll treat one day. You’ll have access to comprehensive counseling and wellness services through a network of qualified external partners.

Resources include two confidential and voluntary counseling and referral services. One is provided by phone while another service is provided in person, in one of three local practices. These services are free of charge to all medical students, and the service by phone is also available to your family members. These services can help you overcome day-to-day challenges that can easily snowball and disrupt your work. 

“It’s important to set aside time to study, but also to take care of your own well-being. What’s great about the faculty here is that they help you find balance so that you have time to work on the things you need to do, but also have plenty of time so that you’re happy and healthy.” - Jennifer Umeugo, MD ’17

Additional services include:

  • Anxiety/stress/depression/substance abuse/personal counseling
  • Budget and debt consultation
  • Legal counseling
  • New parent transition coaching
  • Community resources and referrals

In addition, each student interest group commits to organizing at least one wellness event per year. Events range from stress-buster events and yoga to art studio sessions, reflection sessions, movie nights and more.

The university also recognizes that some students, in their coursework, clinical practicums or other university-related activities, may accidentally be exposed to bloodborne or airborne pathogens. Our exposure control plan contains more information about proper protocols and prevention measures.

Read our Student Exposure Control Plan for Bloodborne and Airborne Pathogens

Rare Disease Day

Dr. Alan Sweetser of Massachusetts General Hospital speaks to a packed lecture hall about rare diseases

Bringing awareness to rare disorders

Rare Disease Day is a global event that serves to raise awareness of over 7,000 identified rare diseases. Although each disease on its own is rare, together they affect approximately 1-in-10 Americans. Since 2015, the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University has hosted the Rare Disease Day Symposium, providing an opportunity for patients, family members and researchers to share their stories, their research and insight into the development of novel therapeutics. Our mission is to promote interprofessional healthcare education and awareness and advocacy for the rare disease community with an event that has also become a powerful learning opportunity for students and professionals highlighting the unique needs of individuals affected by rare disorders.

Student Affairs

The Student Affairs Office is available to help students with many aspects of their medical school experience, including academics, career planning and integrating students into the medical school community.

Visit Us

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Building
North Haven Campus
370 Bassett Road, North Haven

Email Us

SOMstudentaffairs@qu.edu

Mailing Address

Quinnipiac University School of Medicine
Office of Student Affairs (NH-MED)
275 Mount Carmel Avenue
Hamden, Connecticut 06518

Student Mistreatment Reporting Form

If you've been mistreated or have experienced an unprofessional incident as a current Netter student, please fill out the form below.

Non-Life Threatening Emergencies

School of Medicine: 203-582-7647

Report an incident of mistreatment or unprofessional behavior

Contact Student Affairs

Contact the School of Medicine

We’re always here to help provide additional information and answer any questions you may have.

Keep up to date with the latest information about the School of Medicine.

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