Student Experience
Life Beyond the Redwoods: Max Deneroff at Kansas City University, College of Osteopathic Medicine
One year after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Max Deneroff is a medical student at Kansas City University, College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Max Deneroff graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2025 with a degree in human biology.
Max Deneroff (Crown ’25, human biology) leads with compassion. It’s what got him to Kansas City University pursuing a medical degree at the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Born and raised in San Diego, Deneroff grew up with an interest in the sciences while also finding joy in helping others. His youth also found him working multiple summers at a camp with kids on the autism spectrum.
“It taught me how to create an inclusive and supportive environment for children with different needs,” Deneroff said. “It is the combination of all these factors, along with support from my family and guidance from my mentors, that shaped my aspirations to enter the field of medicine and what led me to UCSC.”
Deneroff’s time at UC Santa Cruz was spent balancing his course load, interning, working, and leading a student organization he founded.
Biology classes made up most of his schedule as a human biology major, all essential to his success in reaching medical school. Electives like Life in Medicine prepared Deneroff for the different fields he could explore in healthcare once he graduated school. Taking Medical Spanish was crucial for Deneroff, who wants to serve the diverse population of people in Southern California.
As a course requirement for UC Santa Cruz’s human biology pathway, Deneroff completed an internship with the cardiology clinic at Sutter Health. He shadowed physician’s assistants, doctors, and experienced actual patient interactions. He walked away from the experience with newfound skills in conveying complex information and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to provide the highest quality of healthcare.
“It further solidified my interest in medicine and allowed me to connect what I was learning in my coursework at UCSC with real patients and real clinical decisions.”
Overall, Deneroff is grateful for the support he received during his time at UC Santa Cruz.
“UCSC is filled with supportive and caring faculty who helped guide me over my four years there. They genuinely care about each student’s success and well-being and were always willing to go the extra mile to help me reach my goals,” Deneroff said. “I still keep in touch with many of my professors today.”
Deneroff also worked as a peer advisor and navigator for Crown College where he aided the new class of freshmen every year, holding summer information sessions about life at UC Santa Cruz. By the time Fall came around, Deneroff would get the chance to meet the freshmen in their college core course sections, becoming a friendly face students could reach out to for support.
“I remember my transition from high school to college having a lot of unknowns, and I wanted to help people make their transition as easy as possible as well as supporting them once they got to campus,” Deneroff said. “Seeing the students develop over even a short period was inspiring,” Deneroff said. “It helped me grow as a leader, improved my public speaking, teaching, and mentorship, all things needed to be a successful physician.”
Transitioning to higher education can be tough, especially when having to manage a collegiate level workload while having other responsibilities. Deneroff kept that in mind when he co-founded the Campus Minds Advocacy Club at UC Santa Cruz, with the mission to support students’ mental health and well-being. The club hosted de-stressing activities during exam season and brought mental health professionals in to speak with students.
Deneroff graduated Crown College with a B.S. in human biology last year, all his work preparing him for what was to come next.
Now studying to become a doctor at Kansas City University, Deneroff balances rigorous coursework in physiology and anatomy with hands-on clinical training, including cadaver dissection, standardized patient encounters, and community outreach where he performs free physical exams. His favorite parts are diving into material he’s passionate about and the hands-on patient work, which give him an early taste of the physician he’ll become.
Looking forward in his career, Deneroff aspires to become a compassionate physician who cares for patients regardless of their background, with plans to explore specialties during his clinical rotations that allow close collaboration with both patients and the broader care team. He also hopes to stay involved in community outreach and patient education throughout his career, working to improve healthcare access for those who face barriers to care.
“In the long run, my aspirations are to contribute towards building healthcare systems that put the needs of the patient and the healthcare provider first,” Deneroff said. “I also want to mentor pre-med and medical students who might follow in my footsteps in becoming physicians in the near future—in the same way that I was mentored by those at UC Santa Cruz.”
Life Beyond the Redwoods features 10 Class of 2025 alumni who share how their time at UC Santa Cruz prepared them to launch their careers one year after graduation.