His path to medical school began at the pool.
As a high school student, Daniel Weir ’26 volunteered to teach children with disabilities to swim. “I really liked helping the kids,” he says. “It felt like a calling—like I was contributing something meaningful. That’s when I started thinking about a life of service.”
Weir, however, hasn’t followed a conventional path to medical school. He transferred to Lehigh in fall 2022 and enrolled in the chemical engineering program.
Chemical engineering as a pre-med pathway
“Chemical engineering covers most of the prerequisites for medical school, and I only needed a few additional biology classes,” says Weir, who participated in Lehigh’s Global Social Impact Fellowship (GSIF), applying his engineering skills to an international public health project that further deepened his interest in service-driven work.
With guidance from Susan Perry, the Rossin College’s assistant dean for academic affairs and a professor of practice in the Department of Bioengineering; Autumn Zaborowski, associate director of career integration at Lehigh’s Center for Career & Professional Development; and his advisor, Joseph Menicucci, associate chair and teaching associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Weir secured admission to an innovative new medical program.
This fall, he will join the inaugural class of Arizona State University’s John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering in a concurrent MD/MS program, earning both a Doctor of Medicine and a Master of Science in Medical Engineering in four years.
Weir credits his engineering training with giving him an edge on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), a nearly eight-hour exam that assesses knowledge of biological systems, critical analysis and reasoning, and behavioral foundations. The test is required for all prospective medical students and typically demands three to six months of preparation.
“Coming into the MCAT as an engineer, I already had a problem-solving mindset and the ability to think critically,” says Weir. “From my first practice exam, I could draw on those skills to work through problems in a creative way.”
He also points to his experience in Lehigh’s GSIF program, which places students on interdisciplinary teams to address real-world challenges, as formative in building the research skills he’ll continue to grow as an MD/MS student. As a member of the SaltX team led by Menicucci, Weir worked with peers to address excessive sodium consumption in Kazakhstan, in part by developing a national nutritional labeling system. Through the project, Weir co-authored several papers.
“It was an incredible opportunity to lead research,” he says. “It gave me the confidence to achieve my goals, in particular, going to med school.”
How engineering prepares students for medical school
Weir notes that engineering students interested in medical school have several distinct advantages when it comes to landing the limited, highly competitive spots. For example, taking a less traditional path into medicine provides experiences that can serve as differentiators in applications and interviews. Engineers are regularly presented with complex problems that require rapid solutions, he says, and they are also well adapted to managing heavy workloads.
“It’s good to get used to that intensity early on,” he says, “because it’s only going to increase in medical school and throughout your career as a doctor.”
Weir was attracted to Arizona State University’s MD/MS program in large part because it allows him to continue his engineering education. The program’s graduates pursue a range of paths in medicine, research, engineering, entrepreneurship, and health leadership. While he hasn’t decided on his ultimate direction, Weir, who received a 50 percent scholarship, says he intends to build on the foundation he built at Lehigh to help society.
“My goal is to use an engineering mindset to drive innovation in medicine,” he says. “There are still major challenges around accessibility and affordability in healthcare, and as an engineer, I can help address them by designing more efficient, cost-effective devices and technologies.”
—Story by Christine Fennessy
Daniel would also like to thank Lawrence Tartaglia, a teaching associate professor and associate chair of the Department of Biological Sciences in Lehigh’s College of Arts and Sciences for his assistance with Daniel’s medical school application; Khanjan Meta, vice provost for creative inquiry for his guidance during Daniel’s GSIF research experience; and George Whitmer, a professor of practice in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering for the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant.
