Health Professions and Medical Sciences News

It began in 2015 with a research grant, a team of undergraduates, and an outstanding mentor. Today these RIT alumni are developing new cancer therapies, celebrating a patent, writing in science journals, and teaching the next generation of scientists.

When Carla Stebbins redesigned the health systems management MS degree, she included a culminating travel course in Sweden for her students to observe a different approach to health care. Stebbins, program director, built the online hybrid program to educate health care leaders to navigate a quickly changing field and widen their perspective. Even though COVID-19 canceled the trip, Stebbins found a solution

RIT will celebrate graduate research during the 13th annual Graduate Education Week and Showcase: A Vision into the Future. The virtual event—Nov. 16 to 20—creates a platform for sharing and exchanging ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic, with pre-recorded and live presentations, demonstrations, visual exhibitions, and an alumni panel discussion.

Three new engineering doctoral degree programs at RIT were approved by the New York State Department of Education and are focused on using multidisciplinary approaches to solving today’s global challenges.

The Rochester Business Journal talks to Caroline Easton, professor in the biomedical sciences program, about telehealth programs for addiction treatment and mental health treatment.

RIT’s Behavioral Health program is expanding in new directions with a clinic on campus and federal funding to deliver addiction treatment in rural communities in upstate New York and rural New Hampshire.

WYPR.org features scientist Jenn Kotler ’14 (medical illustration), who is leading a team that is making music from space telescope data.

RIT has again been recognized as one of the best national universities by U.S. News & World Report, which also cited the university as among the most innovative, with strong undergraduate research opportunities and a highly regarded cooperative learning program.

A health care approach centered on integrating mind-body well-being in all aspects of traditional medicine is the focus of a new book by Dr. Laurence Sugarman, research professor in RIT’s biomedical sciences program.

RIT physician assistant students from the Class of 2020 met in front of the Clinical Health Sciences Center one evening last month for a special tradition and rite of passage—the White Coat ceremony.

Meet Shine DeHarder, this year’s Student Government president. DeHarder, who served on RIT’s Community Readiness committee this summer to help the university reopen for students, has three main goals as Student Government president: reducing food insecurity on campus; improving diversity, inclusion, and accessibility on campus; and improving transparency between Student Government and the student body.

The unexpected transition to remote learning during the spring semester challenged faculty across RIT to experiment, create, and deploy new methods of instruction to ensure student success. As the university gears up for in-person and online classes—or a combination of both—faculty members are applying a wide range of lessons learned from the spring to keep academic momentum moving forward in the fall.