Curriculum Vitae

Noemi Alice Spinazzi, MD

Oakland, CA

 

Academics

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Class of 2012

Medical Doctor

Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences; Class of 2008

Graduated Summa Cum Laude (GPA: 3.99)

Bachelor of Arts, Biology; Psychology (Department ‘valedictorian’ for both majors)

Standardized Test Scores:

MCAT Score: 41 R (Physical Sciences: 14, Verbal: 12, Biological sciences: 15)

USMLE Step 1: 260; Step 2CK: 265; Step 3: 251

Academic Awards

Alpha Omega Alpha, University of Pennsylvania 
Phi Beta Kappa, Massachusetts Chapter

Golden Key International Honor Society

Boston University Trustee Scholar (full scholarship program, 40 students for each entering class of 7000)

Boston University Dean's List – all 8 semesters

Foreign languages

Italian – my native language

French – fluent

Spanish – fluent

American Sign Language – moderately fluent (3 college semesters)

Employment Experiences

Children’s Hospital of Oakland – Resident Physician (June 2012 – Present)

·       Full time employment

·       Clinical responsibilities divided between inpatient duties and outpatient continuity clinic per ACGME guidelines

Puentes de Salud Full Time Research Intern (June-August 2009) 
       .      Designed and administered a survey on parents’ approaches to their children’s nutrition and physical activity 
       ·         Organized behavioral health – themed health fairs in conjunction with the Mexican government 
       ·         Focused largely on community outreach

Boston University Office of Residence Life: Resident Assistant (August 2007 – June 2008)

·         Acted as a resource and advisor to 72 students on 3 floors of a residence hall

·         Fulfilled on-call duties (weekdays: 15-hour shifts; weekends 24-hour shifts)

Part-Time Care for Disabled Person (January 2007 – January 2008)

·         Personal Assistant to an almost fully paralyzed woman with Multiple Sclerosis

·         Numerous, varied responsibilities, including assistance in personal and home care

·          Potentially, primary responder in case of emergencies (First Aid and CPR trained)

Part-Time Nanny (September 2006-May 2008)

·         Took care of three children (ages 5, 3 and 18 months at start of employment)

·         Engaged children in afterschool games, learning activities, and outdoors play. No television was allowed.

·         Applied my knowledge in developmental psychology, my concentration within my psychology major

Education Experiences

FASPE (Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) (June 26^th to July 7^th 2011)

.    An intensive program in medical ethics that takes place in New York, Berlin, Krakow, and Oświęcim (Auschwitz).

·     Current medical ethics are discussed in the historical setting of the notorious fail in ethical principles of Nazi physicians, who played a leading role in the development and implementation of the policies and programs of the Holocaust.

English High School of Boston (2007-2008 academic year)

·         Worked as a peer advisor and assistant teacher to Mr. Rozas at an inner city public high school

·         Served as a role model and counseled students on the importance of education and the opportunities it offers

Class of 2012 Course Representative (January – June 2009) 

·         Elected to represent my medical school class at weekly curriculum meetings with course administrators

·         Provided feedback on each lecture and on each course’s organization and dynamics

Private Teacher/Tutor (January- June 2008; June- August 2009)

·         In 2008, I taught Italian to a 13 y/o girl and a 9 y/o boy with severe ADHD before their move to Italy. I had to develop a curriculum and had to engage both children simultaneously despite age differences

·         In 2009, I tutored a college student in physics, chemistry and biology in preparation for her MCAT.

Boston University Educational Resource Center (October 2006 – June 2008)

·         Tutored biological sciences and Italian

·         Average of 6-10 students a semester, 2 hours/week per student

Research and Publications Experience

Publications:

Book chapter on resident communications skills (July-August 2011)

·         As a co-author (with Dr. Larrie Greenberg and Dr. Bejamin Blatt at GWU School of Medicine) of a chapter on medical communication skills, my role is to perform all literature searches and reviews, to critically appraise the existing studies, and to select the ones most relevant to the contents of the chapter.

Third author in: Lee, DI et al. 2011. Surgeon Perception Is Not a Good Predictor of Peri- operative Outcomes in Robot Assisted Radical Prostatectomy. Journal of Robotic surgery

Tomas Tullius Research Group, Boston University (Fall 2004-Spring 2006)

·         The group’s research was funded by the Proteomics Project

·         Student research project: to elucidate the order of reactivity of the hydroxyl radical with the RNA sugar backbone as a tool to map the 3D structure of RNA enzymes

Volunteering and Community Outreach

Puentes de Salud Student Coordinator (January 2009- Jan.2010); Clinical Volunteer (September 2008- May 2012)

·         Take patient histories, present to attending physicians, draw blood, and interpret for patients and doctors

·         Prepare and deliver charlas, simple and culturally appropriate lectures on topics of interest within the community

·         Leadership position recruiting and coordinating volunteers, and representing Puentes at other schools within UPenn

Volunteer Alliance.org (July 2007-present)

·         Co-founder of an international non-profit organization

·         Currently developing a web-based platform for volunteers to connect to and fundraise for charitable projects. www.volunteeralliance.org

Students of AMF Chapter Development Team (September 2008- January 2010)

·         Act as a resource to campus leaders of Students of AMF chapters, sharing my accumulated knowledge about strategies for success of student-based grief support groups.

·         Participate in biweekly teleconferences with other organization branches (marketing, business administration, etc.)

Children's Hospital of Boston (January 2006- June 2007) and Funny Bones at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (September 2008-present)

·         Volunteer weekly (Boston) or biweekly (Philadelphia), distracting children from their disease through games and informal art therapy, and engaging teenagers in age-appropriate conversations unrelated to their illness

Special Olympics (Summers of college)

·         Volunteered as a medical aid, assisting doctors during post-injury interventions and leading stretching routines

·         Was required to provide references and was evaluated for my ability to interact with persons with special needs

International Volunteering Experiences

Project Medishare (Port au Prince, Haiti) (November 2011)

·       I was an integral part of the medical team composed of both Hatian and volunteer American and Canadian physicians

·       The project espouses disaster relief efforts with preventative health and accessible, affordable medical care in Haiti

Botswana Clinical Elective (April 30th-June 20^th 2011)

·       I was an integral part of the internal medicine team at Princess Marina Hospital in Gabarone, Botswana, for 4 weeks, followed by 2 weeks working in the pediatrics and on outreach at the rural hospital of Mochudi, and one week at the Baylor Center for Clinical Excellence working with pediatric HIV patient.

·         I took care of a very sick cohort (80% of patients admitted to the hospital in Botswana are HIV+) during Botswana’s longest public sector strike in history – a seven week strike that decimated the medical and nursing staff, resulting in much of the patients’ care being placed in the hands of us visiting medical students – including running codes.

Clas Ttio – Cuzco, Peru (Summer 2008)

·         Worked in the Emergency Department, triaging patient and taking their vitals, and worked alongside several physicians

·         Worked for a national vaccination campaign, going to schools to vaccinate hundreds of kids against Hepatitis B

·         Accompanied Dr. Gónsera Calua, founder of Medicine for the Andes, to orphanages for weekly health checkups

African Child Care Foundation – Bagamoyo, Tanzania (Summer 2007)

·         Taught English and basic math to 85 orphaned children attending a charity-funded  preschool in East Africa

·         Started an English class for adults in the village of Bagamoyo

·         Sponsored medical checkups for all 85 children with funds I had raised before the trip

Lobbying and Public Speaking

Dream for Darfur International Torch Relay; Boston Event

I was one of the featured speakers at the event, and focused my speech on the effect of the genocide on children

Boston University Biology Department Graduation Speaker

I addressed my graduating class on the importance of pursuing dreams and nurturing relationships and friendships

AMSA Lobby Day 2009

I lobbied senators and legislators about health as a basic human right, and about the economic advantages of a publicly funded health care plan for the State of Pennsylvania – something I firmly believe in

The 2009 Celebration of Remembrance (with participation from all Philadelphia Medical Schools)

 I delivered a eulogy for the families of those who donated their bodies to the Human Gifts Registry

Noteworthy Fundraising

$1,525 for Fight JPA 5k run (Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation) 
          

$1,150 for Boston University Dance Marathon (Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation)

$4500 (total fundraised by the Penn Med team) for Relay for Life (American Cancer Society)

Extracurricular/ Other

Perelman School of Medicine Integrative Medicine Interest Group Chair (Auguat 2010- June 2012)

·         I revived the interest group with a focus on peer-led education of medical students on alternative/ complementary medicine to better prepare

·         Developing joint programs with the Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation Interest Groups