Pharmacology-Toxicology juniors Nicholas Poellinger ‘x16 and Alyssa Tiedemann ‘x16 have been selected as Ganser Fellows by Meriter-Unity Point Health for the summer of 2015. This is the third consecutive year that a “Pharm-Tox” undergraduate has been chosen by the selective Ganser Program. Previous recipients include Sam Boderman ‘x15 and Nia Sathiamoorthi ‘14.

The Ganser Program is a full-time paid summer fellowship; six pre-health undergraduates are selected and serve in the summer following their sophomore or junior years. Since its inception in 1978, approximately 180 students have participated. The program was designed by a former Meriter medical director whose generous bequest, along with Meriter Foundation, make the program possible. The Ganser Program offers fellows an exceptional hospital experience to see numerous aspects of the hospital that many people, including employees, do not typically experience. Fellows receive a comprehensive overview of the operations of health care services by meeting with leaders in nearly all of the hospital’s departments. In addition, fellows are provided the opportunity to work in a specific area of the hospital on an individual project. Fellows are provided the opportunity to shadow doctors, observe surgeries, etc.

Boderman, Poellinger and Tidemann all aspire to attend medical school. Pharm-Tox alumna Sathiamoorthi is in her first year of MD studies at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.