PHMI Board Members

Nina Ledis is a pre-health advisor at Hunter College and provides the full range of pre-professional services to pre-health students from academic planning, to portfolio development, to application, essay, and committee letter review, to mock interviews, to pre-professional workshops. She is also responsible for the PHMI Initiative as a faculty supervisor. She works closely with the PHMI Advisory Board to ensure that mentor applicants are timely interviewed and trained and that mentees are timely matched with mentors. She also ensures that the PHMI program meets the standards of the Hunter College Pre-Health Professions Advising Office.

Nina is a 1983 summa cum laude graduate of Dickinson College with Political Science honors and a 1986 graduate of Duke Law School. After practicing law for 15 years, she followed her interest in education, writing, and student advocacy through her freelance academic advising and essay writing services beginning in 2011 and has been privileged to serve the Pre-Health students at Hunter College since 2016.

Nisha Manahil is a Hunter senior majoring in Biochemistry and on the pre-medical track. Her interests lie in addressing and eliminating health disparities in the US and in developing countries around the world. As a first generation college student, she joined PHMI as a mentee during her freshman year, and has been serving as a mentor since her sophomore year. In her junior year, Nisha had the opportunity to serve as the PHMI Ambassador Coordinator and manage mentor trainings and peer-advising sessions, along with initiating tabling events and ambassador takeovers for the PHMI instagram.

Entering her senior year, Nisha now has the privilege of serving as the PHMI Program Director. As our new Program Director, she aims to increase awareness of and involvement in the program and expand and strengthen the PHMI community. She hopes that her diverse experiences and passion for healthy equity will enable her to make a positive impact on the PHMI community.

Vicki Yang is a senior majoring in biological sciences on the pre-med track. As a freshman, she felt confused about the pre-health process, how to balance classes with work and other extracurriculars, and make friends online. She applied to be a mentee through PHMI and was matched with a mentor who validated her struggles, shared their own, and supported her as Vicki tried out different things to get adjusted to Hunter. Being a part of the PHMI community inspired her to become a PHMI mentor for three mentees and share academic and extracurricular resources. As the new Mentor Relations Coordinator, she looks forward to supporting current and new mentors in growing strong and long-lasting relationships with their own mentees. Vicki also aims to make mentorship more accessible to pre-health students at Hunter.

Emily Chan is a Hunter senior double majoring in Biology and Sociology on the Pre-Medical track, and is part of the Macaulay Honors Program. Her interests lie in health equity and women's health in particular.

She joined PHMI as a mentor during the Spring of 2022 and is looking forward to being the new Mentee Relations Coordinator. With this role, Emily hopes to make effective mentee/mentor matches that provide mentees with the best mentorship possible, and ensure mentors have meaningful opportunities to support their peers. She is excited to help foster new connections and experiences within the PHMI and Hunter Pre-Health community!

Mashhura Nurilloeva is a senior at Hunter College, pursuing the pre-medical track with a major in Biochemistry. Her passions lie in pursuing an MD/PhD program. As a first-generation college student, Mashhura joined PHMI as a mentee in her first year at Hunter, an experience that greatly influenced her journey. She was later honored with the opportunity to serve as a mentor, inspiring and guiding fellow mentees. In her junior year, Mashhura expanded her impact as an ambassador, actively contributing to the PHMI community.

Now, as the PHMI ambassador coordinator, Mashhura aims to foster stronger relationships between ambassadors and mentors within the PHMI community, drawing from her own valuable experiences to create an empowering and supportive environment.

Emma Demiraku is a Yalow Honors Scholar who graduated in the Spring of 2023 on the pre-dental track with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Political Science. She has been serving as a PHMI mentor since Spring 2023 to assist freshman, sophomore, and transfer students seeking guidance on entering the pre-health track. After being guided by many upperclassmen Yalow Scholars, she was inspired to provide the same advice they gave to others who are confused about navigating pre-health requirements and potential careers.

As the new PHMI Social Media Director, she hopes to expand both the @phmihunter Instagram and PHMI at Hunter College Facebook pages and expose pre-health students to helpful student resources. She wishes to continue featuring a diverse array of successful students for Humans of PHMI and, simultaneously, introduce a new activity which features student clubs that could benefit students on their pre-health and social endeavors! She hopes to aesthetically revamp the PHMI pages and showcase the true helpful qualities of PHMI to Hunter students!

Susanna Kasparov is a rising junior on the Pre-Med track and is majoring in Biological Sciences with a double minor in Chemistry and Psychology. She joined as a mentor in the Fall of 2022 as a sophomore. Being a part of PHMI has allowed her to transition into the pre-med community and has provided her with support throughout her time at Hunter.

As the Administrative Coordinator, she will be able to oversee the logistics of PHMI. In her position, she hopes to continue to guide others through their own journeys and educate peers about health-related topics.

Alba Trepca is a Hunter senior majoring in Human Biology on the pre-PA track. She joined PHMI as a mantee dring her freshman year and has been serving as a mentor since her sophomore year. As a first-generation college student, she understands the value and importance of strong mentorship in pursuing a career in healthcare. She served the PHMI Board as the Social Media Director in her junior year, managing the "Humands of PHMI" candidates and initiating the "Day in The Life of a Pre-Health Student" series. Entering her senior year, Alba now has the privilege of serving as the PHMI Program Director. As our new Program Director, Alba aims to increase awareness of the program and expand the PHMI community. In doing so, she hopes that more students will have the same strong guidance and mentorship that she had while navigating through their Pre-Health journey at Hunter College.

Mahum Fatima is a Hunter senior on the pre-medical track, majoring in Biology, and in the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. She transferred to Hunter in Fall of 2020 and joined PHMIas a mentee and has been serving as a mentor since Spring 2021. Mahum has utilized her own unique experience as a transfer student to help incoming freshmen and transfer students in getting adjusted to Hunter, becoming familiar with the Pre-Health Office, and their own Pre-Health journey. Mahum believes that through strong mentorship and networking, she can provide adequate insight and support to guide students towards the path of success and expose them to the breadth of opportunities available to them. As the PHMI Mentor/Mentee Relations Coordinator, Mahum is looking forward to working with the team in facilitating a meaningful connection between Pre-Health students and PHMI!

Nisha Manahil is a Hunter junior on the pre-medical track, majoring in Biochemistry. Her interests lie in addressing and eliminating health disparities in the US and in developing countries around the world. As a first generation college student, she joined PHMI as a mentee during her freshmen year, and has been serving as a mentor since her sophomore year. Now in her junior year, she has the privilege of serving as the PHMI Ambassador Coordinator. Through this position, she hopes to expand the PHMI community and strengthen the ambassador role, along with fostering deeper relationships between ambassadors, mentors, and mentees.

Sandy Selim is a Hunter senior on the Pre-Dental track, majoring in Biology with a concentration in Behavioral Neurobiology and a minor in Chemistry. She has served as a mentor since Fall of 2021 with efforts to help guide incoming freshman through their transition to college. As the current Social Media Director on the PHMI Board, she handles @phmihunter on Instagram and PHMI at Hunter College on Facebook, and interviews candidates to be featured for Humans of PHMI. She hopes to make the program more diverse with mentors, mentees, and ambassadors across all the different Pre-Health tracks!

Darvin Huang is a Hunter senior part of the Macaulay Honors Program majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Economics, on the Pre-Medical track. He is a first-generation college student and has had many great mentors that have helped him in his journey through college and the pre-med track. Because of this, he joined PHMI as a mentor in his junior year to give back to the community and to help other students navigate the Pre-Health track. As the Administrative Coordinator, he will make sure that the administrative side of PHMI is running smoothly. Through his role in PHMI as a mentor and now as part of the board, he hopes to continue to provide as many mentorship opportunities as possible and looks forward to expanding the PHMI community!