Health Talk

Dimple Patel has been named associate dean of admissions for the University of Minnesota Medical School. She will assume the role on May 13, 2013.

Patel is currently director of admissions for the University of Colorado School of Medicine; she is also completing her Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy at Colorado State University. Her master’s degree in higher education comes from Illinois State and she attended Michigan State for her undergraduate degree.

She has spent nearly a decade doing admissions work, having spent the last three years in medical school admissions and previous six years in law school admissions. In her new role at the University of Minnesota, she will report to Mark Rosenberg, M.D.

Patel describes recruitment as her passion and she believes that involving the community, having strong student recruiters and dedicated faculty members are all essential factors to reaching outward and finding excellence in the applicant pool. She sites observation, then implementation, as one of her strengths, and she looks forward to having more exposure to our Medical School culture.

“I had never been to visit an organization where I met so many people who had the same consistent message about what they felt about students, about what they felt about one another, what they felt about the community,” said Patel. “It was so nice to hear that same message over and over again of feeling connected, feeling like they were part of a team, understanding the necessity to see students through the pipeline from when they’re premed to when they’re out there and practicing in community, and understanding all the dynamics that are involved helping a person get through that pipeline.”

Patel is excited to return to the Midwest and plans to spend some of her future free time on road trips to North and South Dakota and, of course, Duluth, Minnesota.

“Special thanks to Theresa Baultrippe,” said Dean Aaron Friedman. “She did a marvelous job as our interim director of admissions.”

Congratulations to Ms. Patel, and we look forward to having her continue the good work of admissions for our Medical School this spring.