Meet the H3P Team
Katherine Brackmann
H3P Lead Advisor & CoordinatorKatherine serves as Associate Director, Academic Engagement for Career & Professional Development and leads the Health Professions Pathways Program (H3P). She has more than 10 years of experience working in higher education and started working at Gonzaga, her alma mater, in 2017. In her current role, she provides career counseling, coaching, and education to students and alumni with a particular focus on supporting students wishing to pursue health-related careers and continue their education in a variety of graduate and professional programs. Katherine also instructs a course at the university (UNIV 410) that focuses on the application process for health professions graduate programs. She completed a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, is a Certified Career Services Provider, and is actively involved in leadership for the Western Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. In her spare time, Katherine enjoys spending time in the outdoors, keeping up with her favorite sports teams, and spreading joy through baking.
Jake Deckert, PhD
Faculty Advisor (Spring)Dr. Deckert has been teaching courses in biochemistry, immunology, and physiology at the university level for over a decade. He received his master's and PhD from the University of Kansas in exercise physiology, as well as undergraduate degrees in health education and physical education. The primary focus of his graduate work was skeletal muscle physiology and the immune response to exercise. Between graduate school and his current position, Jake did a postdoctoral fellowship in the immunology of spinal cord injury at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York. He has been a part of the UWSOM-GU Health Partnership since 2019. Undergraduate advising in health and medicine has been a part of his role from the beginning of his PhD work. In the summer of 2022 Dr. Deckert and a group of medical students at the University of Washington in Spokane began an “Exercise is Medicine Club” that focuses on the mental, emotional, and physical benefits of exercise; it began as a running club with hopes of expanding down the road. When not working with students, he coaches athletes in nutrition and performance and greatly enjoys running, skiing, hiking and generally being outdoors.
