Health careers program offers students immersive experience at WVU
Students participating in a West Virginia University Health Sciences postgraduate preparatory program recently had the opportunity to learn about health professions from world-class providers at WVU Medicine.
Hosted by the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and Executive Chair Vinay Badhwar, MD, who also serves as chair of the WVU School of Medicine Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, students in the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) learned about the Institute’s innovative therapies and approach to patient-centered care while gaining insights into the field of cardiovascular surgery. As part of their visit on the Morgantown Campus, students watched two open-heart surgeries via live video and audio feed and were able to ask Dr. Badhwar and members of his team questions during the procedures. Badhwar also spent time with the students discussing the importance of ethics, commitment and delivering compassionate care as members of the health profession.
“The best part of the day was getting the opportunity to meet with physicians from various backgrounds and gain insight into what made them successful during their journey into the medical field,” Javohn Moore, a Marshall University medical student from Morgantown, said.
The students were joined on the visit by Cathy Morton, HCOP director, Kas Kasten, program coordinator, Emilea Warnick, medical student mentor, and William Ramsey, MD, associate vice president for coordination and logistics and chief collaboration officer for WVU Health Sciences.
“The opportunity for our HCOP students and mentors to observe in real time open-heart surgery by Dr. Badhwar was an exceptional experience,” Dr. Ramsey said. “His discussions with the students regarding the importance of the ‘art’ of medicine, teamwork and our responsibility to really ‘care’ for our patients made a lasting impression on the students.”
“The most valuable aspect of having access to world-class facilities and experts is learning whether a life in the medical field is for you early on,” Moore added. “Hearing about it firsthand aids in determining if it is something you could see yourself getting into.”
The students, who are participating in the HCOP GUIDE program, are currently enrolled in academic programs at WVU, Marshall, West Virginia Wesleyan College and WVU Tech. GUIDE is designed for undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their competitiveness as they prepare to apply to health professional school in programs such as dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. The program includes a one-week, on-campus experience that includes sessions designed to prepare for the application and interview process followed by a remote Kaplan review course. The campus visit also provides students with the opportunity to hear from deans and program representatives from WVU’s five health schools – Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health.
“I believe the biggest advantage was the access to real-time evaluation of current standing and areas to improve upon for successful acceptance into medical school,” Kendalyn McDaniel, a Marshall medical student from Pratt, said. “Being able to have meetings with individuals on the admissions committee not only allowed me to see how I align with the average student the program is planning to accept, but also the practice and guided talk points allowed me to feel more comfortable during my interviews.”
“The program has greatly helped me in my academic journey by teaching me things that I would’ve never known as a first-generation college student, such as writing personal statements, applying to graduate school and choosing which path is best for me,” Emma Cyrus, a WVU student from Beckley, said. “I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in a health professions graduate program because it completely elevates your knowledge on how to get into these competitive programs.”
The mission of the HCOP program is to assist under-represented, disadvantaged and minority students to become more competitive for college and healthcare careers, increase diversity in healthcare professions and improve the distribution of healthcare professionals in under-represented areas. Through “earn to learn” programming, HCOP prepares incoming freshmen for their college careers and upperclassmen for their professional school application and interview processes. HCOP is administered through the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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