Department of Medical Sciences, Health, and Management

Overview

The Department of Medical Sciences, Health, and Management is dedicated to improving lives in our global community by educating a diverse group of highly competent and compassionate health professionals. The department combines existing programs in Biomedical Sciences, Health Systems Management, and Medical Illustration. A new Global Public Health BS degree will officially launch in the fall of 2025.  A Global Public Health minor is now available.  If current RIT students would like to explore the possibility of transferring into the new BS program, they should contact Program Director John Oliphant at John.Oliphant@rit.edu

Goals

  • Serve as a national leader in healthcare education, preparing a diverse group of students for careers and lifelong learning in the areas of medical science, healthcare management, global public health, and biomedical communications.
  • Promote the values of lifelong learning, enabling graduates to adapt to rapid changes in the healthcare field.
  • Promote a culture that supports diversity, inclusion, critical thinking, leadership, and creativity.
  • Cultivate faculty and student research to discover and disseminate knowledge.
  • Emphasize the principles of ethics, honesty, and rigor in research.

Undergraduate Degrees and Certificates

RIT’s biomedical sciences BS consists of life sciences core courses combined with flexible electives to customize your degree for medical school or full-time employment.

Learn more about the Biomedical Sciences BS program 

RIT’s degree in public health explores current health issues in order to prevent disease, improve health, and help people attain health equity across the world. 

Learn more about the Global Public Health BS program 

Learn the fundamentals of the U.S. health care system, the organizations that delivery services, how various services are financed, and the management and leadership skills needed within these organizations to effectively serve individual patients and the larger community.

Learn more about the Health Systems Administration Certificate program 

Graduate Degrees and Advanced Certificates

This graduate-level certificate in health care financial management provides you with the skills needed to advance your career in the health care industry.

Learn more about the Health Care Finance Adv. Cert. program 

In this health care management online degree, you’ll combine the leadership and organizational management competencies of an MBA with the specialized skills required to manage within the intricate health care industry.

Learn more about the Health Systems Management MS program 

In RIT’s medical illustration degree you’ll become a highly skilled medical illustrator who can transform complex medical information into visual images that are used in education, research, patient care, public relations, legal cases, and health care marketing.

Learn more about the Medical Illustration MFA program 

Minors

The global public health minor enhances your understanding of the important concepts of public health and its focus on prevention and population-based approaches to enhancing health for all people. An overriding goal of the minor will be to ensure that you understand the various determinants of health and how health care professionals can strive to ensure all people, everywhere, have what they need to reach their full potential. You will learn how to apply the knowledge obtained in this minor to local, regional, national, and global health concerns.

Learn more about the Global Public Health Minor program 

News

  • November 3, 2023

    researcher wearing a white lab coat posing in a lab.

    RIT researcher looks for genetic switch to prevent ‘sleeping sickness’ in cattle

    RIT researcher Bolaji Thomas is leading a $650,000 study to compare the genetic response in cattle in sub-Saharan Africa to the parasitic disease Trypanosomiasis, or “sleeping sickness,” that attacks their blood and brain. As parasites adapt to a warming world, the biting fly that transmits Trypanosomiasis could someday migrate to northern climates.

  • September 19, 2023

    two people of color shaking hands at a reception event.

    RIT’s Future Faculty Career Exploration Program celebrates 20th cohort

    RIT’s Future Faculty Career Exploration Program celebrates its 20th cohort of diverse academics Sept. 27-30. The program, hosted by the Office of Faculty Diversity and Recruitment, is a rigorous four-day event designed for historically underrepresented scholars and artists of color to experience a behind-the-scenes glimpse into life as a faculty member at RIT.

  • June 13, 2023

    eight people posing for a photo in a brick courtyard in Sweden.

    RIT master’s students learn lessons from Swedish health system

    Graduate students in RIT’s health systems management program are learning this week about how the industry works in Sweden from health care administrators and practitioners. The eight-day study-abroad course, Health Systems Analysis and Innovation, gives students insights into a different health care model and the nuanced reasons it works well for the Swedish culture.

Facilities

  • A research lab with measuring equipment on a benchtop
    Research Lab

    This research lab supports research conducted by students and faculty in biomedical sciences, specifically in the areas of clinical microbiology, immunology, and parasitology. 

  • Student sits in lab with models of brain, heart and human skeleton
    Anatomy and Physiology Lab

    Students in Anatomy and Physiology learn the structure and function of the body’s organ systems (digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, etc.).

  • Cadaver lab with 6 tables
    Cadaver Lab

    Human gross anatomy is taught in the fall (for medical illustration majors) and in the spring (for physician assistant and biomedical sciences majors) with the use of cadaver specimens acquired from the University of Rochester's School of Medicine.