A World of Possibilities
Clarkson's Lewis School of Health & Life Sciences is now offering a new Bachelor of Science in Healthcare degree program that can prepare students for virtually countless careers in the healthcare field -- from patient care to public health and policy.
“Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors and the world of healthcare is changing rapidly,” according to Lennart Johns, Founding Dean of the Lewis School. “We have designed a curriculum with foundational knowledge, but also the flexibility to adapt to student interests and our changing world.”
The new healthcare major is designed for students who are interested in any facet of healthcare including pre-clinical, business, data analytics, public health policy, research, and bioethics.
Meet Lexi Keller '27
A Healthcare Major minoring in psychology with a concentration in Health Psychology. Lexi is also on our Direct Entry track for the Pre-Physician Assistant M.S. program.
“I learned about Clarkson as I was searching for schools that had a direct-entry Physician Assistant program. Finding a school that had this program would save me a lot of time having to apply later after undergrad. The PA programs are highly impacted and are not guaranteed, which can result in a lot of time between your undergrad and starting your graduate PA program.”
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Direct Entry to Graduate Programs
Majoring in healthcare is also the newest option for Clarkson’s Direct Entry initiative for healthcare. In this program, students complete four years of undergraduate study at Clarkson for a BS degree, then directly enter our master's or doctorate degree programs in their chosen healthcare field.
There is no second application, as long as all the requirements and academic criteria have been met. Clarkson’s Direct Entry program is designed to attract the best, brightest and most promising students who wish to enter the fields of healthcare. Direct Entry provides a guaranteed spot for first-year undergraduate students in our Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, MS in Occupational Therapy (MS-OT) program or MS in Physician Assistant Studies (MS-PA) program.
Curriculum
Students in the Healthcare major will complete 25-26 core credits and 19 elective credits in healthcare, 22 credits in science, 10 credits in math, 4 credits in required seminar, and 39-40 credits which are open or free electives. This design allows a student to be highly focused or diverse in their coursework and the flexibility to design their own curriculum to meet their intellectual interests and career goals.
Embedded within the core Healthcare curriculum are the 15 Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students that have been endorsed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Core Requirements and Electives
In addition to the Clarkson Common Experience, the following are required:
Science Requirements (22 credits): Students must complete two courses of biology (BY160 & lab, BY471 & lab), two courses of general chemistry with lab, one course of general physics with lab
Math Requirement (10 credits): Students must complete two courses in math and one course of statistics.
Healthcare Core Requirement: Students must complete 25-26 credits of courses designated by the Healthcare major.
- PY151 Introduction to Psychology
- HC201 Bioethics Across the Healthcare Industry
- HC205 General Medical Conditions
- HC207 Medical Anthropology
- OSM286 Organizational Behavior
- HC301 Evidence-Based Practice
- PY/HC370 Developmental Psychology
- PY/HC463 Health Psychology
- HC499 Prof. Exp. (1-2 cr)
Healthcare Electives (19 credits): Students must complete from department approved listing.
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Healthcare): HC600 Intro to Health Systems, HC651 Health Systems Management, HC650 Health Policy Dynamics, HC626 Healthcare Marketing, HC605 Healthcare Operations, HC617 Healthcare Finance
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Ethics): in addition to HC201, examples include PHIL241 Medical Ethics, BIE400 Responsible Conduct of Research, BIE410 Biomedical Ethics.
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Communications): examples include COMM217 Intro to Public Speaking, COMM219 Introduction to Social Media, COMM229 Principles of User-Experience Design, COMM245 Writing for Media, COMM313 Professional Communication.
- One Healthcare elective (1 credit, Communications): examples include COMM125 Social Media Analysis and Applications, COMM126 Fundamentals of User Experience, COMM127 Foundations of Data Visualization, COMM150 Making and Communicating Innovation.
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Diversity): examples include SOC210 Sociology of Family, SS220 Intro to Gender, SS221 Intro to Sexuality, ANTH230 Intro Race & Ethnicity, ANTH238 Men & Masculinity, PY268 Diversity Science, ANTH320 Racial Inequality, SOC330 Health, Wealth, Inequality, and Environment, HIST338 Women, Gender, Science, PY366 Cultural Psychology.
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Biology): examples include BY140 Biology I: Inheritance, Evolution, and Diversity, BY200 Intro to Biomedical, BY214 Genetics, BY363 Pharmacology of Infectious Disease, BY416 Principles of Toxicology and Epidemiology, BY419 Immunology, BY428 Kinesiology, BY440 Biomedical Engineering Fundamentals, BY452 Pharmacology.
- One Healthcare elective (3 credits, Psychology): examples include PY253 Social Psychology, PY255 Cognitive Psychology, PY357 Human Cognitive Evolution, PY359 Perception, PY360 Learning and Memory, PY361 Motivation and Emotion, PY458 Cognitive Neuroscience, PY462 Abnormal Psychology.
Outcomes and Learning Objectives
At the completion of the program student will have attained sufficient knowledge, skills and behaviors to demonstrate to following abilities:
- Think broadly and critically about the healthcare industry
- Identify complex issues in healthcare and ideate workable solutions
- Integrate new information to better understand complex issues
- Work in teams
- Appreciate cognitive diversity
- Effectively communicate healthcare issues
- Apply evidence to support positions and decision
