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First To Go
First To Go
For Grad Students
Explore programs specifically designed to support UCLA’s first-generation graduate student community, helping you thrive academically and professionally.

First Gen at David Geffen School of Medicine

David Geffen School of Medicine Building

First Gen @ DGSOM connects, supports, and empowers first-generation medical students at UCLA. We create community among medical students, residents, fellows, faculty, and alumni who identify as first-gen, providing tailored resources and support throughout your medical education and beyond.

Our Mission

First Gen @ UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) is an extension of the larger UCLA-wide First To Go Initiative highlighting the first-generation experience in higher education. In this group, first gen medical students are those who are the first in their family to attend college. Students who identify as “First Gen” will be able to connect to other DGSOM students, residents, fellows, faculty, and alumni who are proudly first gen themselves. We envision mentorship and tailored resources that focus on student, resident, and faculty well-being and self-preservation (from the medical school years to beyond), through the first-gen lens. We will connect to first gen resources/workshops at the UCLA university level (the established UCLA First To Go Initiative), including but not limited to:

  • Mentorship (if interested) between First Gen medical students and First-Gen UCLA college pre-medical students
  • Networking between First-Gen graduate chapters (e.g. UCLA Anderson School of Management, UCLA Law, First-Generation Graduate Student Council at UCLA)
  • Advocacy of First Gen concerns and issues at bimonthly UCLA First Gen Advisory Board meetings

We seek to connect, empower, and celebrate the first gen community in medicine.

Get in Touch

For questions, more information, or to get involved, reach out to Alejandra Casillas at acasillas@mednet.ucla.edu.