How to grow at every stage of your medical career with Neha Vapiwala, MD

As the dean of admissions for the Perelman School of Medicine, Vapiwala sets standards for the committees that evaluate nearly 7,000 applications every year.

Her top advice for aspiring medical students is to stay true to their personal narrative. For Vapiwala, her paternal grandmother, a breast cancer survivor and one of her primary caregivers after she and her family emigrated from India to the U.S., influenced her path to medicine.

“I recommend focusing on the influences, experiences and exposures that inspired you to pursue a career in medicine,” Vapiwala said.

“In the case of many applicants, it might be a completely non-traditional route. What was your particular journey towards a calling to medicine? That should be your guiding star, because anything else will not feel genuine. We are reading your short answers and your personal statement to see if you can convincingly relay why you've decided to commit to a career in medicine and why you feel that the school that you're applying to is the right fit for you.”

That means being vulnerable, rather than striving for perfection, Vapiwala said.

“Admissions committees don't expect that every single applicant has it all figured out from the beginning,” she said. “Lean in on the things that didn't go well. Let us know about why you did or didn't pursue something. What are the gaps that you hope to fill? How did you pick yourself up after a particular setback or a disappointment? Owning that instead of trying to make everything look polished and perfect is important. It brings a lot of character and dimension to who you are and helps us get to know the person behind the application.”

How to make the most of your residency and fellowship years

Medical residency and fellowship come at a pivotal time in a newly credentialed doctor’s life: they’re starting their career, potentially moving to a new city, and, for some, starting a family, or navigating other big personal life moments. For Vapiwala, residency was a time of both personal and professional significance, as it’s when she met her husband, also a radiation oncologist in training at Penn.

Vapiwala served as chief resident for her final two years of residency, and never left the program far behind, as she went on to become director of the Radiation Oncology Residency Program after joining the faculty. In 2013, she became the department’s first Vice Chair of Education, overseeing all training programs. When compiling a match list, Vapiwala recommends taking both your personal and professional goals into account.

“Balancing the personal and professional demands during residency and fellowship years is a challenge, so having an environment where you feel supported and excited—both at work and when you're not at work—is super important,” she said.

This means considering the institutional support systems for trainees and personal leave policies as well when choosing a program.

“Try to ensure the programs you’re applying to fit your academic and professional expectations, while also supporting your health and growth outside of work,” she added.

Vapiwala sees teaching as a two-way exchange and has found that the most meaningful advances often come from reexamining long-held assumptions and exploring new ideas together. “So much of clinical care is advanced by the questions that students and trainees ask. ‘Why do we do things this way?’ Or, ‘What's the evidence that supports this approach?’ And sometimes I'm not entirely sure, so we look it up and learn together,” she explained.

Great research ideas often arise from students and trainees’ questions that have no answers, she added.

“We have a conversation about how we could design a research project to address it. Having an environment of constant curiosity and inquiry prompts all of us to check our assumptions and is so important to ultimately ensuring that patients get the highest quality evidence-based care.”

As an accomplished professional: get involved in your field’s society

For Vapiwala, being a member of the Penn Medicine community since medical school has been only one part of the picture of her career advancement. Participating in professional societies, including ASTRO, which she first joined as a junior medical student, has been a meaningful way to give back to and continue shaping the future of her field.   

At the end of the month, Vapiwala will preside over the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting, taking place Sept. 26-30, in Boston. As she wraps up her term as president of the world’s premier radiation oncology society, she reflected on the honor:  

“I am, I believe, the youngest ASTRO president and the first Asian woman to be elected president. Because of that, in many ways, this is a role I never envisioned would be possible for me. And yet here I am and it makes it all the more special.”  

ASTRO serves the radiation oncology field through the promotion of science, education, professional development and advocacy, and Vapiwala believes that no matter how much (or little!) you’re looking to get out of a professional medical society, everyone can find a way to be involved that suits their goals.  

“Participating in a professional society can be very pragmatic. It could just be, this is where I go for my CME credits, or to connect with colleagues or hear about the latest science, and it serves this very specific purpose, which is great,” Vapiwala said.  

“And for those who want to do more, getting involved in your specialty’s society allows you to contribute to the next generation, to advocate for policies that impact your field longer-term, to design educational materials, to develop the clinical guidelines that are followed by your colleagues across the world.  

“Whether you enroll on clinical trials or do lab research or you read about the research and apply it to your clinic, society guidelines, journals, and annual meetings impact everyone in the field, because it’s the core of what moves patient care forward.”