Jacob FrenchmanBIOSC Senior and almost med student Hey everyone! It’s Jacob, one of the peer advisors. For this blog post, I had the opportunity to interview one of my favorite professors at Pitt, Dr. O’Reilly, about her experiences as a scientist and as a professor. As a freshman, I had Dr. O’Reilly for intro Bio 1 and 2, as a sophomore I TA’d for her intro Bio 1 and 2 classes, and as a junior I had her for biochemistry. Now as a senior I am taking her BIOSC 1010: Communicating in the Biological Sciences course. Remember - it is always a good idea to check in with your professors at office hours and get to know them. This is a great way to get to know them, TA for them, have them co-sponsor your research, and maybe write some letters of rec one day. Jacob: What did you study in college? Why did you study it? Dr. O’Reilly: I completed my undergraduate degree in industrial biology because I wanted to work at Pfizer. But, as part of my degree, I was required to do a job placement where I relocated to the NIH with my friend for 6 months to study RNA polymerase. Working at the NIH is where I realized my love for biochemistry. Originally, I wanted to do molecular biology because I believed that biochemistry was too old school. However, my professor, Paul Engel’s passion for genetic diseases caused by protein deficiencies motivated me to begin studying fatty acid metabolism. I was so fascinated by how studying protein and kinetic data (biochemistry!) could make a significant difference in patient lives. So, I returned to school in Ireland to attain my PhD in biochemistry. Jacob: What led you to Pitt? Dr. O’Reilly: Growing up in Dublin, moving to Pittsburgh was not my lifelong dream. What brought me to Pittsburgh was my husband. He runs a lab at the medical school, so I started working in a lab as a postdoc in a different lab at the medical school studying molecular genetics. Initially, my dream was to lead my own lab at the medical school. However, I transitioned into a senior scientist role at a lab at the children’s hospital looking to repurpose drugs to treat diseases in children. When my boss was recruited to Washington University in St. Louis, I found myself at a crossroads: Should I start a new challenge or a new lab? As a postdoc, I always loved working with the younger students in the lab, it was my favorite part of the job. While I loved research and hoped to someday help people through science, teaching presented me with an opportunity for more direct impact on others. So, I decided to start teaching the communication in the biological sciences class which was only 16 students. Soon after, I started teaching full-time and began teaching the big lectures classes of over 300 students, which was a huge change for me! Jacob: Are you currently still doing research? Dr. O’Reilly: I have a funded project from the provost office to learn about peer-teaching. Every week some of my students create a short teaching video (3 minutes, 1 per semester per student) and then two people peer-review two videos per week. We are trying to see if students will learn better when they are actually reviewing material and not just passively listening to lecture. The lecturers don’t do bench research anymore, but we are all doing funded work to try and improve education. We want to help our students learn as best as they possibly can, so we meet weekly to discuss the latest research on how to best help students learn. This is especially important in our current time because the pandemic has exacerbated disparities in high-school education. We want to get all our students at the same level. Jacob: What is your favorite class to teach? Dr. O’Reilly: I really enjoy teaching foundations of biology because I can meet students when they are freshman and hopefully get them excited to study biology and become scientists. I love teaching biochemistry because it is my favorite subject, and we can get more in-depth with human diseases which I find so fascinating. Also, the students in Biochemistry have an established foundation in biology, physiology, and chemistry so there is so much potential for critical-thinking and powerful connections. Honestly, I also really love communications in the biological sciences because it is student driven — they create the final material, and I am merely their editor. Jacob: What’s your Favorite part of teaching? Dr. O’Reilly: My favorite part is always meeting students and see them progress and mature. I love to see my students grow into independent learners and watch them become successful! This is largely why I really love the communications in biological sciences class because there is so much student discussion that allows me to develop relationships with my students. Even if in a large class, if we (the professors) can explain material in a way that makes sense to our students we can see the lightbulb go off and watch our students develop powerful connections for themselves. Teaching gives me the potential to reach a lot of people and (hopefully) get them all interested in biology! Even if I can’t get everyone excited in biology, I sincerely hope that by the end of Foundations 1 my students can analyze and do research for themselves. Jacob: What is the most challenging part of your job? Dr. O’Reilly: It is challenging having very large classes, with nearly 300 students in some classes. Luckily, I have a wonderful teaching team with UTAs and assistant instructors that help me. But with the sheer number of students, it can sometimes be a bit challenging. My students are so kind and understanding of the fact that we have so many students, so they are patient. Also, sometimes it can be challenging trying to reach everybody in the class. As instructors, we get worried that some students fall through the cracks which we try to never let happen. Jacob: What advice do you have for younger students who want to be bio majors/biologists? Dr. O’Reilly: The most important thing is developing good study habits. So many students come in and have huge dreams and aspirations. All of us, as instructors, want to see everyone hit those dreams. So, I would highly recommend reaching out to instructors to build reliable study habits, go to office hours, and use the study lab! It is essential to be realistic with yourself and identify when you are struggling so you can get help because we all really do want to see you succeed. Jacob: Lastly, what is your favorite thing about Pittsburgh? Dr. O’Reilly: I was very surprised when I first moved here that there is such a large and supportive Chinese community, which is very important for me especially because my children are bi-racial, and I want them to get that diverse experience and be part of the community. I really love doing Tai Chi, and this past weekend we went to the Asian lantern festival at the zoo to perform and watch our kids do kung fu there. It was a great opportunity to relax and do non-academia related things. Well, everyone, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! If you ever get a chance to take a class with Dr. O’Reilly, I highly recommend it! If you want to swap stories about your favorite professors (maybe who I should interview next?) or just want to talk about random stuff (maybe enrollment since that’s coming up this week?) feel free to swing by Madison and my office hours on Monday at 3-4 PM!
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Eric JordahlSenior CellDev major and pre-PhD student For many people, paying for your undergraduate or post-graduate education is one of the most stressful parts of furthering your education. Along with this, comes the stress of loans, and applying for other funding like scholarships, grants, and fellowships. As an undergraduate student who spends most of my time doing research in my lab, I am someone who has applied for many different fellowships and grants, so I was hoping to detail some of my experiences to all of you and offer some advice for those who may be applying soon. For most applications that involve funding related to research, programs want to assess your qualities as a prospective fellow in two main ways. The first is through your research interest and topic. This likely is demonstrated through the drafting of a research prospectus or research plan. Second, these programs want to see if you, as a researcher, are a good investment for these companies, departments, organizations, etc., to invest in. They will likely assess this in one of two ways, with a request for a “personal statement” or a list of prompted questions for you to answer. For many of these programs, they want to see that you as a researcher will not only produce strong data, but that you will use this funding to advance the field in which you are working in addition to yourself. I will detail each of these facets below in a bit more detail as well as include some more of my own experience. Drafting a Research Plan When applying for funding for your research, you want to make sure that your project is scientifically sound and ensure that it is relevant to ongoing research in the field. The best way to do this is to first talk to your scientific mentor. Whether this is your Principal Investigator (PI) or a mentor who sponsors you, they will be able to help keep your application competitive in your field, developing a strong outline on what research you can perform. Once you have a strong outline planned, you can begin your writing process. This can be different dependent on what you are applying for: smaller fellowship opportunities (like those from our Department of Biological Sciences or even just in the University), often require much less than those on the national scale. Some opportunities, like those in the university, are most likely to want a smaller research prospectus that focuses more on the importance of the research you are performing rather than the experiments themselves. Thus, it is important to include both a strong background and a significance section, so that any reviewer will be able to understand why your research is not only a good project to follow, but one that is good for the field. Larger opportunities are a bit more of a mixed bag. If you are applying to an opportunity provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), it is especially important to focus on the experiments you plan to perform and how it will expand science, but maybe less on broader impacts like medicine. On the other hand, applying for an opportunity with the National Institute of Health (NIH), it is important to focus on how your research could work towards developments in public health or medicine. All in all, it is important to know your audience and what they find most impactful in an application. Most applications will include details of who to cater your plan towards, whether it be people in other sciences (Ex. Physics), people in a broad category of your research (ex. Biology), or experts in your field (Ex. Molecular Biology). Without paying attention to this, you may write a beautiful research plan in correct terminology for your field, but if it is being read by someone who has very limited knowledge of the base knowledge of the topic, it will be difficult for them to understand your plan. With this in mind, it is important to check this before writing your plan, or if you find out later, make sure to edit so that your reviewers can understand your plan, making them more willing to fund you! Developing a Personal Statement As I mentioned previously, the second portion for these types of applications is often to assess you as a person. This portion, to me, is the most daunting, and the most difficult to write. I am terrible at talking about myself, and prefer to focus on the work that I do, or the things I am involved in. However, this is not a great strategy for this portion of an application, unfortunately for me and many others. The best advice that I can offer for this is insanely cliché, BE YOURSELF. With these types of applications, the reviewers want to know you as a person, not the details about your life that they could gather from your CV or résumé. Of course, you want to brag about all that you have done and show them that you are a strong candidate for their program. But with this, you do not want to seem too prideful, so make sure to show humility. Do not be afraid to be vulnerable (to a degree), as it is okay to show some weakness and explain where you may have struggled. The path you took to get to the point at which you are at is the one you took, and the best thing for you to do is to own it. You may have made mistakes at one point, and that is okay, just show them how you got back up and found your groove again. Show them that you are resilient, and you will persevere through the hardships that stand ahead of you. Though all of what I just wrote may sound very “motivational speaker” -esque, it is something that can truly help your personal statement to stand out above the rest. If anyone has any questions, I am happy to discuss this at any time, as this journey is still ongoing for me as well, so maybe next time we talk I will have an updated perspective. You can reach me at my email [email protected] at any time, so don’t hesitate, even for the smallest of things! We have a great team of undergraduate Biology Peer Advisors ready to share their experiences in the BIOSC department and answer all of your questions about being a student at Pitt. This semester we have two great new peer advisors: Ward Liu Hi everyone! My name is Zeyu “Ward” Liu and I am an international student from China. I am a current junior at Pitt pursuing biological sciences with a microbiology focus! I am also on pre-med track and is looking forward to pursue a physican-scientist career. I am extremely interested in research and have done extensive progress so chat with me if you have any question regarding research, your career or your major! Looking forward to meeting you soon! Ekeoma Uzoukwu My name is Ekeoma Uzoukwu, but everyone calls me Kiki. I am a senior Microbiology major and I am minoring in both Chemistry and African Studies with a certificate in the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. I intend to pursue an MD-PhD in order to become a physician-scientist in the future. In my free time you will find me working in my lab, trying out new restaurants in Pittsburgh with my friends, and watching shows on Netflix. And 10 superstar Bio Peer Advisors returning for a second or 4th semester: Mikaela Baratka 4th year E&E major Pre-Phd Maia Brown 3rd year MICRO major Pre-Med Riya Desai 3rd year CellDev & PSY major Pre-Med Jacob Frenchman 4th year BIOSC major Pre-Med Lori Huang 4th year BIOSC major Pre-Med Eric Jordahl 4th year CellDev & Classics major Pre-PhD Julianna Menendez 4th year BIOSC major Pre-Med Madison Palmiero 4th year BIOSC major Pre-PA Gopika Rajanikanth 4th year BIOSC major Pre-Genetic Counseling Kamron Woods 4th year MICRO Major Pre-med/PhD Office hours will be starting Tuesday, January 18th. Check out our website or the bio advising newsletter for details!
Mikaela BaratkaSenior Ecology & Evolution and pre-PhD student I’m not someone for self-promotion, in fact I would rather hear about what cool projects my peers are working on instead of talking about my own. That being said, I want to share with you a project I started this past summer and am incredibly proud of.
Before I share my project with you, I think it’s important that you know a little about me. I am an Ecology and Evolution major, and as such, I am a massive animal lover. One of the things that drew me to E&E was the fact that I always questioned how the world works and how it has come to be that we have the diversity we see today. I have always enjoyed learning about odd animals and whatever research projects, or conservation efforts surround them. But as I’ve learned about these obscure or endangered animals, I realized some of them that are the most at-risk are largely overlooked by the public. So, I decided to do something about it, and I started a podcast. Yes, I decided that I did not have enough on my plate entering my last year of undergrad despite doing research, being a UTA and peer advisor, and having leadership in my fraternity, and I started a podcast that I write, record, edit, and promote all by myself! My podcast, called the A to Z Animal Podcast, goes through the alphabet, one letter at a time, highlighting a rare, endangered, and obscure animal in an attempt to spread my love of wildlife and raise awareness about species that people tend to ignore. My little show may not change the world, but in the few months I have been working on it, it has changed my life. I am learning that it is okay to share my hard work and be proud of it. I am learning how to communicate more efficiently and learn for the sake of learning and not because I had to research something for a class. If you want to listen to my podcast, check it out at theatozanimalpodcast.com, you can find all the episodes and links to the show’s social media there. And if weird animals aren’t your thing, that’s okay too. If you take anything away from this blog, it’s to pursue your passions, and sometimes it’s totally fine to be proud of your work and share it with the world. Kamron WoodsSenior MICRO major and pre-MD/PhD student Over the summer I had the opportunity to perform basic science research through a Summer Undergraduate Research Award (SURA) through the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. SURA is an interdisciplinary program that provides a stipend for students to conduct independent research with a faculty mentor. Over the course of the summer of 2021, I worked on an ongoing project in Dr. Yvonne Eisele’s laboratory at the Aging Institute. At the Eisele lab, we study an age-related protein misfolding disease called transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR). In brief, ATTR is caused by the misfolding and aggregation of transthyretin (TTR) into insoluble amyloid fibrils that deposit in organs, such as the heart, and tissues around the body. Misfolding can be driven by point mutations in the TTR and an age-related reduction in protein quality. If left untreated the progressive deposition of amyloid fibrils can lead to heart failure and/or polyneuropathy. My project focuses on characterizing several of the point mutations by inducing aggregation using in vitro methods such as low pH, high temperature, and exposure to metal ions. As part of the SURA program, I attended biweekly meetings with other members of the cohort and discussed different aspects of conducting and communicating research. I enjoyed hearing my peers’ perspectives on the topics we discussed and the strategies they used to talk about their projects to an audience that had little to no background knowledge. Our topics were usually based on the short, assigned readings we had to prepare for the meetings, but they were usually interesting. My group was mostly composed of students doing biomedical research and it was comforting to know that we shared many of the same struggles and frustrations with our projects throughout the summer, such as troubleshooting, back-ordered supplies, and getting results we couldn’t explain. My favorite part about the SURA program was being able to spend more time in the lab than I get to during the semester. I highly recommend that any student who is currently in research and looking for ways to continue their work throughout the summer apply for SURA! (Applications for summer 2022 are not yet up but are usually due February - March. Starting these applications is a great side project for winter break!) Maia BrownThird year MICRO major and premed student Academics are important, but what is more important is that we take time for ourselves and take care of our mental health. Doing small things for ourselves that remove us from that academic mindset, even for five minutes, can help us in the long run. There are so many ways for people to do this, and different things work for different people. From baking to listening to music, I will walk you through some of the things I do when I get stressed or when I just need a break from academics. One of my go-to things is listening to music. Turning on Spotify on my computer helps my brain know that we are shifting to a different gear and calming down for a bit. During that time, I sometimes journal to decompress my feelings, clean my workspace a bit so it can look and feel refreshed for a new study session. Or sometimes I can just lay down and take a cat nap. Another thing that is helpful is baking. I love to make anything from biscuits to cookies. Feeling accomplished with baking something and getting to eat a sweet treat afterwards is always a reward to me. Especially because I get something done that was not on my “to do” list. If you ever need any recipes, ask family, look online, or reach out! Those are more in-the-moment activities that I like to do when I try and decompress. Other things are planning to go out with my friends and do a variety of stuff. Setting up time to go out and get away from a work or study space is always healthy. From getting lunch to planning an evening movie marathon or going to a sports game, can be so rewarding, especially getting to spend time with friends who I cherish. It’s always fun to go out and do things with the people you love and create memories, even the small ones. Since the wintertime is coming up, maybe schedule a date with your friends to go ice-skating or go walking downtown with some hot chocolate. Or even promise each other to go out and build a snowman when we get the first snow of the season (that is if we are on campus when that happens!). Maybe have a Winter themed potluck, having food and drinks that go along with the season. My all-time favorite is apple cider. Since Pitt is diverse with a lot of amazing and different people who celebrate a lot many holidays, maybe set up a holiday party potluck with food from your culture! Other things to try are taking a walk around campus. A quick stretch of your legs around campus can help clear your mind relatively quickly. Or maybe sit in the quad and drink something warm, as the temperature is starting to drop. Being outside and getting fresh air is, well, refreshing. Maybe take a book to read that you don’t need to read for class. I personally have been re-reading the Percy Jackson series as a nostalgic read. Maybe I will go onto the Maze Runner or Hunger Games next! There are also some simple organization skills that can help you take time away from actively studying or doing work. Like I said before, cleaning your desk quickly to reset your mind is super helpful. Or making a to-do list of what needs to get done first, what needs to get done in the next couple of hours, what needs to get done in the day, and what needs to get done in the week. Breaking down your tasks into smaller lists helps it not seem as overwhelming and can help you relax your mind. I hope these ideas may help you, inspire you, or guide you to taking some time for yourself. We’re almost done with the semester - about to enter this last stretch of schoolwork with projects, papers, and exams. Make sure to take care of yourself and your mental health. Lori HuangBIOSC senior & premed student Last summer, a cell culture internship with Teva Pharmaceuticals was snatched away from me as COVID-19 cases mounted and masks became commonplace. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I frantically applied everywhere I could, even as far as California across the country but alas, it was already the end of April and all the internship positions had been either already filled or canceled. Now what? As I ruminated over what I should do over the next four months, hate crimes against Asian Americans rose as we were blamed for the pandemic. Being Chinese, I have always been aware of the racism that persists in America and have unfortunately been subjected to it myself. However, I had never seen such blatant racism against Asian people at alarmingly rising levels. In fact, there is a whole very extensive Wikipedia article titled “Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic”. With each new article I read about yet another hate crime, my heart grew heavier. When I received an email from Pitt asking for submissions for “The Art of Diversity Showcase and Competition,” I knew then what I was going to do that summer: create a piece to bring attention to the racism against Asians in America. I wanted to express the isolation and pain felt in the Asian American community at the time, but it was difficult translating the raw feelings into an art piece. I went through many drafts and sketches, each of which I was unhappy with and tossed into a growing mound of crumpled paper. Funnily enough, what became my finished submission popped into my head in the classic place where you get your best ideas: the shower. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I got to work and completed what went on to eventually win the competition in “Sociocultural Topics,” Viral Blame: This artwork depicts the discrimination that Asians have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are those who believe that China is at fault for the pandemic and have resorted to violence and hate against Asians. Some have also used their words to spread racism, such as referring to COVID-19 as the "Chinese Virus" or "Kung Flu". Such racism has also spread like a virus; hence the name Viral Blame. This artwork was made in Adobe Illustrator and depicts an Asian woman encircled by a COVID-19 virion. The spike proteins have been replaced with pointing fingers to depict the blame that people have placed on Asian people for the pandemic. Maia BrownJunior Microbiology and pre-med student What did I do over the summer? Well, that’s a loaded question. Like many Americans, I was highly anticipating the Summer Olympics. As a big sports fan, I got my team-spirit on and cheered on team USA and as a native Marylander I was cheering on Ledecky big time. Naomi Osaka, who was one of the recent Met Gala Hosts and one of my favorite tennis stars, started the Summer off with an important action on the behalf of her mental health. She put herself first and withdrew from the French Open. It’s important for us all to take those steps back, set boundaries, and take care of our mental health, because when our mental health is not okay, we cannot perform the best we can. The next notable thing to me this summer was on June 19th, or Juneteenth known to many, which was officially made a federal holiday this summer. While I believe that was long past due, now all of America can finally and officially recognize the day that slavery ended in this country. It’s important to reflect on the importance and meaning of June 19th, to see how far our country has come, but to also reflect on the issues African Americans face today. We saw billionaires go to space, the G.O.A.T. of gymnastics withdraw from the team all around in the Olympics, to the various COVID variants arise, this summer was packed full of news, good and bad. Every day we can learn from what is going on not only in our country, but also in the world around us. My summer was occupied with Pitt’s Summer Pre-med Academic Enrichment Program (SPAEP for short). This 7-week program was a virtual, but packed and exciting experience. I took two classes that occupied most of my day. We learned physiology of the body and how it applied to different diseases. We also read and presented on multiple research articles ranging from diabetes to mind-and-body medicine. The diversity of material we learned made me enjoy this intensive experience. The worst thing about the program was doing an at-home glucose test. Drinking a large glass full of simple syrup was not fun, and I can’t imagine how it must be for all the people who must do glucose tests in other settings. However, it was interesting to see how our blood sugar content changed over the course of the day. We then compared it to how other foods affected our blood sugar. I decided to see what a serving of cheese would do because I absolutely love cheese. In the end, and looking back on it, it was a cool and meaningful experience, while also being funny. We also did a research project over the course of this program. So, what did I do mine on? If you’ve taken a microbiology or biochemistry class, maybe you’ve heard of prion diseases. I decided to do my research on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD for short). This disease is caused by an infectious protein that causes other proteins to misfold, primarily in nervous tissue. This causes a sponge-like pathology in brain tissue and is unfortunately fatal. I decided to look at CJD in populations 65 and older, as well as if they have had neurosurgery. There is a certain type of CJD called iatrogenic CJD that is passed from neurosurgical instruments. I wanted to know if neurosurgery put this population at a higher risk for contracting the disease. During this research, I got familiar with the pubmed.gov database. As Pitt students, we have access to this great resource for looking up millions of research papers. I got to sort through multiple papers to select a handful that would help me do a literature review of my research question. In the end, I did not find a relationship, but going through the process of a literature review and finding and putting research paper’s together for my own questions was incredible. I got to present in front of my peers, as well as our educators of the program (you get lots of practice with presenting things). My summer was filled with my own meaningful experiences, while also taking in the world around me. I hope your summer was great! Tyler WhitfieldComputational Biology Senior and pre-dental student As a senior at Pitt, the most valuable skill that I have learned in college thus far is the ability to effectively study for understanding, rather than for memorization. Like for many other students, the transition into college academics was a tough one for me. In high school, I could simply study the material the night before, regurgitate it on the exam, purge the information from my memory, rinse and repeat. As many of you already know, this technique doesn’t fly in college, especially in STEM classes. While my first semester was a long adjustment period, I am writing this blog post so you can learn from my mistakes and hopefully find a quicker path to academic success. 1. Reading your notes is not enough! If you take one thing from this post, let it be this. I’m sure that you’ve heard this hundreds of times from your professors, but there is a reason for this – it is simply not enough. The BIOSC exams that I have taken over the last three and a half years always test to assess how deeply you understand the material. Reciting the parts of the lac operon is a good start, but you need to learn how to think critically. “What would happen if there was a mutation in the lac operon?” is a much better question to ask yourself when studying as compared to "what is the order of the lac genes?". Not only does this complex example question build upon basic understanding of the content (that you do need to know!), but it also forces you to start thinking like a professor. >> Trying to anticipate what questions could be asked is a very effective way of covering all your bases. 2. Teach your friends. Something that works well for me is to practice teaching the material to friends. Instead of re-reading your notes for hours at a time, get a group of friends together, and try presenting the professor’s slides. Surprisingly, this method will instantly reveal your weak areas. If you are unable to stand up and explain the steps of glycolysis, then you should spend more time on that section specifically. Whether they are biology majors or not, have your peers to ask you questions during your presentations. Often times, they can have different perspectives on the content, and really force you to know your stuff! If you are struggling with the material, I promise that you are not alone. Finding a good study group to actively study with can be the difference between an A and a C. Give it a try! And don't forget to take advantage of UTA, TA, and professor office hours. Even if you don't have questions - just going to listen to other's questions (and maybe even chime in with answers) can be a great way to challenge your understanding . Gopika RajanikanthBiological Sciences Senior and pre-Genetic Counseling The Undergraduate Global Health Certificate is offered through the Global Studies Department of Pitt’s University Center for International Studies (UCIS). The last two years have shown us how global the impact of Covid-19 has been and why understanding global health is important. Many biology majors are interested in healthcare professions or public/global health. The Undergraduate Global Health Certificate is a great way to take courses across various disciplines and learn more about the field of global health. The certificate is only 18 credits and can easily overlap with general education requirements. Requirements To earn the global health certificate, you must take six courses: one required course, two core courses, and three elective courses. The required course everyone must take is Introduction to Global Health (PUBHLT-1001). Then you must take two core courses. Some of the courses which fulfill this requirement include Global Health History (HIST-0709), Introduction to Global Studies (PS-0550), and Applied Statistical Methods (STAT 1000). And finally, you must take three electives. Here is a complete list of all the core and elective courses offered in the spring 2022 semester. The final requirement for the certificate is the creation of a digital portfolio. This allows students to reflect on their coursework and show what they have learned through the completion of the certificate. (Check out an example!) My Experience I initially decided to pursue the global health certificate in my sophomore year. At this time, I was already enrolled in STAT 1000, a course many biology majors take, which I learned satisfied one of the core courses for the certificate. When I did more research, I realized that many of the electives I could take would also fulfill various Dietrich School general education requirements. The second core course I decided to take was Patients and Healers: Medical Anthropology 1 (ANTH-1761). The three electives that I decided to take were Morality and Medicine (HPS 0613), Medical Sociology (SOC 0477), and Global Pharmaceuticals (ANTH 1726). Morality and Medicine fulfills the Philosophical Thinking/Ethics general education requirement, and global pharmaceuticals fulfills the Global Issues requirement. So, I only had to take three courses outside of my major and general education requirements to satisfy the certificate requirements. One of my favorite courses that I’ve taken towards the certificate was Medical Sociology with Dr. Slammon. We discussed topics such as how various factors, including socioeconomic status, affect access to healthcare, different health care systems globally, and how the profession of medicine was established in the United States. The global health certificate is a great way to learn more about the field of global health, which could be helpful for many different students. I’ve enjoyed taking all my classes towards the certificate and definitely recommend considering pursuing it. |
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January 2022
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