Nandita Gupta is a third-year medical student interested in mental health and psychiatry. I had the opportunity to meet Nandita virtually and hear about where her interest in mental health started. Nandita grew up in the Chicago suburbs and completed her undergraduate degree at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, where she majored in psychology and sociology. She has been interested in working in the mental health field since high school, and her studies only further solidified her interest. After college, she worked as a case manager on the psychiatric services team at a community mental health clinic. Nandita’s drive to contribute didn’t stop there. She also pursued volunteer opportunities, working for a year as a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line. Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can utilize this free crisis line. As I spoke with Nandita, I was impressed with the breadth of her in-depth experiences. Her lack of fear of failing and push to try new things, which her mother inspired, has been an attitude Nandita emulates in her life.

From here, Nandita’s interest in the medical field grew. She applied to Chicago Medical School (CMS) and joined the incoming class of 2025 along with her brother. Nandita is involved in several student organizations focusing on community outreach and advocacy, mentorship, and professional development. As the President of the CMS chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), she focuses on providing students with various mentorship experiences. Nandita says that mentorship has been a valuable component of her personal and professional development, and she wants to ensure that her peers can access those same opportunities. During her presidency, AMWA has had numerous mentorship-related programs. In the spring of 2022, they held an event on advocacy in the workplace comprised of faculty speaking about experiences as a woman. In 2023, AMWA also kickstarted a mentorship program with Saint Francis College to advise and support undergraduate women interested in pursuing a medical career. AMWA has also participated in a virtual physician-student mixer in collaboration with several Chicago-area medical schools and put together their own Woman to Woman Soiree to allow students to network with Chicago Medical School alumni. As AMWA’s President, Nandita also served as a panelist for the Women in Medicine and Science (WiMS) event on leadership pathways and cultivating leadership. These events provided opportunities for students and colleagues to learn about previous experiences, meet mentors, and ask questions about careers in medicine.

Beyond AMWA, Nandita is also on the executive board for Students Interested in Psychiatry (SIP), Vice President of Advocacy for the RFUMS chapter of the American Medical Association (AMA). She has also participated in the Interprofessional Community Clinic (ICC) on the Community Outreach and Advocacy Panel. As part of the executive team of SIP, she proposed and helped plan an event on maintaining mental health in medical school, which was aimed at helping first-year students navigate adjusting to the pace and rigor of medical school. In addition, as VP of Advocacy for the AMA, she worked on organizing several advocacy-related events on domestic violence, which brought in speakers from local organizations such as A Safe Place and Apna Ghar.

Lastly, as part of the ICC, she worked on the Vitals Boxes Project team, which was responsible for mailing equipment such as blood pressure cuffs and blood glucose monitors to patients so they could take their vitals at home, especially when doing telehealth visits.

Nandita’s efforts as part of the leadership teams of these various organizations speak to her commitment to mentorship and community outreach/advocacy. But she emphasizes that none of her accomplishments were a solo act- she is very grateful to the other student leaders on her team who helped make all of these events possible. She would like to thank Angela LeDonne, VP of AMWA, and Maria Schmidt, the treasurer, for all their help in putting together AMWA’s events. She would also like to thank the AMA M1 reps Naosuke Yamaguchi, Manasvi Paudel, and Rahi Patel for helping assemble the AMA events. In addition, she would like to thank Ashley Guo, head of the Vitals Boxes Project team, for her leadership and all the fun times they had packing boxes together. And lastly, a shout out to the entire SIP Board, especially President Eliza Hofman, for all the programming they put together.

Moving forward, Nandita says she is interested in continuing to participate in organizations focusing on career development and advocacy work. Recently, she was elected to be one of the co-Vice Chairs for the Illinois Psychiatric Society Medical Student Committee along with fellow CMS student Eliza Hofman, a role which she is excited to take on as she moves into her M3 year.