Dr. Alexandra Bloss is a UMHS Class of 2025 graduate who started a preliminary general surgery residency at the Jewish Hospital—Mercy Health in Cincinnati, Ohio, this summer. She initially wanted to be a dolphin trainer and a veterinarian before deciding to pursue medicine, and was influenced by her father, an OB-GYN. Dr. Bloss double-majored in biochemistry and mathematics during her undergraduate studies at SUNY Geneseo. She applied to 20 U.S. medical schools but was denied, and ultimately chose to attend UMHS.
During her surgery residency, Dr. Bloss hopes to receive the best training possible and build long-term friendships and mentorships in the field. She advises prospective surgery residents to be sure it is the right path for them, as the training is mentally, physically, and emotionally demanding. Dr. Bloss is excited about the advancements in minimally invasive surgical techniques that have occurred in the 25 years since her father graduated from medical school. She credits the support and guidance of UMHS's Academic Affairs department, particularly Patrick McCormick, for helping her navigate the residency application process.
UMHS spoke to Dr. Bloss a few days before graduation this summer.
UMHS Endeavour: Tell us about yourself.
Dr. Alexandra Bloss: I'm from Upstate New York, and I'll be going to a preliminary general surgery residency at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati. I am so excited to be starting residency and beyond blessed to be doing it in surgery. I am looking forward to doing it at Jewish Hospital, not only because of the people that are there that I've already met and interviewed with, but also one of my best friends from my general surgery core rotation will be one of my co-interns. I’m thrilled to be doing my training with her for the first year.
Did you have a favorite professor at UMHS? And can you tell us any specific stories or anecdotes about how they helped you make a difference during medical school?
One of my absolute favorite professors was Dr. Nagappa, who teaches physiology. I was his TA at one point, and he was just a very supportive professor for me. My neuroscience course was very difficult, and he helped get me through it. He helped me find support and the right resources to get me through that course. He was very encouraging and very passionate about physiology. Dr. Roy and Dr. Jalan, who taught Path One and Path Two, respectively, are both passionate about their courses and pathology.
Dr. Roy drew the best drawings for pathology just to really help you understand the details and how everything worked and fit together. It really laid a strong foundation for me going into Path Two. Dr. Jalan is the most passionate person that I have worked with at UMHS in basic sciences. He just cares so much about his students and pathology and making sure that you understand the physiology behind the pathology so that when you get to your clinical sciences, you have that foundation to talk to patients about what's going on with them and really support them through their treatment process.
Dr. Alexandra Bloss proudly holds her M.D. at UMHS graduation at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 6, 2025. Photo: Andre Bolourian.
The fifth semester in Maine
What was the fifth semester in Maine like for you? Can you just tell us a little bit about the faculty, the Kaplan prep course, and anything that helped you prepare to not only do well on the USMLE Step One, but also help you do better in your clinical rotations?
I went to Maine by myself. All of my friends were in the EBS program, and so they were behind me, and I had to figure out how do I do this by myself. I was really able to lean on the professors there and my small group leader. She was really helpful in terms of my understanding what physical exam skills are necessary, how do I talk to a patient and help them to know that I see them and that I'm here with them and working for their good. The Kaplan prep course was also helpful. I think it's one of those things that you're going to get out of it what you put into it, as with the entire Maine semester.
The big thing that I took away from Maine was that you have to learn how to integrate course material. It's not just going to be a pathology question or a physiology question. They're going to say, "Okay, here's the pathology, here's the physiology. Now what's happening biochemically?" And that's what the question is on step one. And so, learning how to do that while you have the time in Maine makes your dedicated study time outside of Maine that much more productive.
Dr. Alexandra Bloss prepping for surgery. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Bloss.
President Warren Ross with Dr. Alexandra Bloss at UMHS graduation at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 6, 2025. Photo: Andre Bolourian.
Originally wanted to become a veterinarian
Did you always want to be a doctor when you were growing up?
Not always. When I was five, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer, and I was adamant about that for a good couple of years. And then I wanted to be a veterinarian. When I hit early high school, I realized that I really wanted to work with people. And growing up, my dad is an OB-GYN, and so I kind of grew up around medicine. It was never something that I was forced to do I came to the conclusion to go into medicine by myself, but it was really the marriage of always having to learn, getting to apply science, and getting to work with people. That's what drew me to it.
Tell us about your undergraduate studies before UMHS.
I did my undergrad at SUNY Geneseo in Western New York, and I double majored in biochemistry and mathematics and minored in the college honors program. My math degree was just for fun.
What made you choose UMHS over other medical schools when you were looking at medical schools?
UMHS was my only option. I applied to 20 US-based medical schools, and I got rejected from all of them. And I had applied to a master's program and was accepted there, but then it would have been two years between undergrad and starting medical school. I applied to UMHS on a whim. I got a flyer in the mail that offered to waive my application fee, and my mom said, "Why not?" I applied on Friday, interviewed the Friday after that, got in on the Friday after that. So, it just seemed like it worked out in a way that told me that's where I needed to go.
For our current and prospective students out there who might be unfamiliar with surgery residency, can you just explain a little bit about what a surgery residency entails?
Absolutely. I'm a little bit different from everybody else because I'm doing a prelim year. So, you can do either a prelim or a categorical year in surgery. As a prelim, you're basically just another intern, but they're trying you out for a year is kind of how I describe it. And then they can either pick you back up again as an intern, or you can reapply.
A normal general surgery residency is five years in length. During that time, you rotate through all kinds of different surgeries. You will do general surgery, vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, trauma surgery, acute care surgery, plastics, breast, colorectal—you'll do rotations in those different things and more. You will take call. It depends on how often; how many people are in your program. Some programs have trauma in-house, and some do not. So that will affect what your call looks like as well. And then you will start doing cases again, depending on the program, your intern year, and then usually by your fifth year, you're the one doing the surgery when the attending is there to assist you if you need it. But they have trained you up so that you are able to do the procedures by yourself, and you are teaching the lower-level residents how to do these cases.
It sounds like it runs the gamut of the different types of surgeries. And just out of curiosity, when you went into med school, did you have surgery in mind as a specialty?
I wanted to be a surgeon, but I didn’t have a specialty in mind. I don't really have the patience or tolerance for primary care, and it's something I know about myself. That was one of the major things for me was that I knew I didn't want to do primary care. I am good with my hands, and so it's always been important to me that I have been able to use them. But kind of spending more time in the operating room and more time with surgical patients. It's the before and after surgery that I care about almost as much as the surgery, because surgery is a very vulnerable thing. You're completely at the mercy of your surgeon, and so there needs to be a level of trust between patient and surgeon, and it's a really unique relationship. It's important to me that I get to be a part of that process and be with people and walk with them through these really vulnerable and hard times in their lives.
That's a really good point because some med students are terrified of surgery. It’s great that you care about the "before and after," but also the person, because it can be very scary for people, even with minor surgeries. What do you hope to accomplish during your residency?
I hope to get the best training possible. I don't know that I have any specific goals in mind. I want to be good at what I do, and I want to be able to leave my residency either to go into a fellowship or into practice feeling competent and confident in what I'm doing. And I hope to make some long-term friendships and some long-term mentorships and just have a good network of people that I can support and be supported by, going into medicine.
What advice do you have for any students out there who might be wishing to pursue a surgery residency?
Make sure you really want it. It is hard. There's nothing easy about it. It's going to ask so much of you mentally, physically, and emotionally. So, make sure you really want it. Take the time to understand the foundations while you have the time to do so.
Dr. Alexandra Bloss during clinical rotations. Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Bloss.
Medical breakthroughs in surgery
Are there any new treatments or medical breakthroughs in surgery that you find especially interesting, not only helping you as a young surgeon, but also beneficial to patients? For example, we now have AI and robotics. We now have minimally invasive surgery, and there's less recovery time.
I think just the coolest thing for me is my dad graduated from med school 25 years ago, and now I get to graduate exactly 25 years after he did. And robotics wasn't really a thing when he graduated. And now he does a ton of minimally invasive GYN surgery, and that's his niche, his love. But that was all things he had to do after he'd finished his residency. And that's what I will be training on. And I just think it's the coolest thing that progress that's been made in 25 years in terms of what's available for patients and what our training looks like and how it differs from what it did 25 years ago.
UMHS President Warren Ross handing Dr. Alexandra Bloss her M.D. at UMHS graduation at Lincoln Center in New York City on June 6, 2025.
How UMHS Academic Affairs helped with the Match process
Patrick McCormick and his colleagues in Academic Affairs said many great things about you. Can you talk a little bit about academic affairs or anybody at UMHS who really helped and guided you through the Match process? I think a lot of current and prospective students are not really familiar with the kind of personalized guidance that UMHS students receive.
I'm somebody who needs to know all the information in order to feel confident going into something. And Patrick sends out these really detailed emails very early on to kind of walk you through what to expect. I had a conversation with him on the phone, I think almost a year ago, and I said, "I want to apply for surgery. What do you think about my application?" And he talked about GPA, extracurriculars, research, what programs to look at, and what things to consider, all of which were really helpful for me when I went to apply. And then, multiple times throughout the fall, I reached out to him and spoke to him directly over the phone about the process and where I was at and what advice he had. He was very helpful. I would call him cautiously optimistic in terms of his guidance, which I think is the most helpful approach for residency applications. I found him to be very encouraging and helpful in the process.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
UMHS is a really unique experience, and you're going to get out of it what you put into it. I think walking into it expecting it to be hard is something that everybody should come into it with, but I also think that your attitude about things makes a big difference. And if you embrace difficult circumstances as growth opportunities, you're going to do a lot better.
Medical school through UMHS is a distinctly unique experience. The life skills that you will gain by being at this medical school are a drastic boon for you going into residency. You just really need to dig into those opportunities and view opportunities and challenges as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks and hurdles for you to get over. You'll be a much stronger person if you can be flexible and adaptable, willing to work with a whole bunch of different people, willing to shift from one setting to another over a weekend, and it will prepare you for residency and beyond.
Contact Dr. Bloss at albloss20@gmail.com
(Top photo): Dr. Alexandra Bloss at UMHS graduation in New York City, June 6, 2025. Photo: Andre Bolourian.
Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
