---
title: "Virtual Shadowing, Genuine Opportunity for Pre-Health Students"
date: 2022-06-01T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/virtual-shadowing-genuine-opportunity-for-pre-health-students"
section: Articles
---
# Virtual Shadowing, Genuine Opportunity for Pre-Health Students

*June 1, 2022* — by [Shannon Clark M.Jour. ’22](/author/shannon-clark-m-jour-22)


> Undergrad’s Free Program Makes 5,000 Connections With Doctors

*52069544602 d8a3e36dbe o 1920x1080 — Minahil Cheema ‘22 accepts Teleshadowing's third-place award for ventures at UMD's Do Good Challenge in April. She and fellow Terps founded the program to bring together volunteer physician mentors to students around the world aspiring to medical careers.*

While most of her peers were stuck at home in 2020, Minahil Cheema ‘22 was on the pandemic frontlines, suited up in PPE gear and swabbing staffers for COVID-19 at Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

She was gaining invaluable shadowing experience for her medical school applications, but it didn’t sit right with her that her peers' shadowing hours were put on pause. Cheema snatched the opportunity to create [TeleShadowing](https://www.teleshadowing.com/home), a free program offering pre-health students at universities around the globe virtual shadowing hours. Though she graduated last month with her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, the program is still going strong with live and recorded segments with doctors; so far 5,000 students have taken advantage of it.

“In the past, (physicians) were only able to take in two to three students in person,” said Cheema. “But now, they are able to share their stories, their career paths and journeys to virtually an unlimited number of students.”

During her volunteer hours with the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Cheema partnered with physicians to help host weekly two-hour virtual shadowing sessions. They include an overview of a typical workday for a specific physician, followed by a lecture with simulated patient case studies.

Her mother, Dr. Asima Cheema, an internal medicine specialist with her own practice in Maryland, helped to kick-start TeleShadowing as one of its pioneer medical directors.

“Shadowing hours can help show medical programs the dedication and interest a student may have for a certain speciality,” said Cheema, who now serves as United States medical director for TeleShadowing.


*Minahil Cheema presents in a classroom*




**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Biology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/biology), [Health Care](https://today.umd.edu/topic/health-care)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences), [School of Public Policy](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-public-policy)