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Biomedical Sciences BS

Three students from the biomedical sciences program traveled with RIT Professor Bolaji Thomas to his native Nigeria to understand the impact tropical diseases such as malaria have on the population and the medical protocols used in treatment.

CNBC features Talia Zames, an incoming biomedical sciences student who raised $20,000 to pay off $6.7 million in medical debt around the Syracuse area.

RIT researchers are studying the genetic switch that could make cattle resistant to the wasting disease known as “sleeping sickness.” Bolaji Thomas, professor of biomedical sciences in RIT’s College of Health Sciences and Technology, is examining different immune responses to bovine trypanosomiasis within the same species of cattle in Nigeria.

Samuel Lum found several things in common with his faculty mentor, Robert Osgood, including excitement about research and a project that could save lives. Lum’s background in mechanical engineering technology and Osgood’s microbiology expertise in studying biofilms would be the kind of multidisciplinary approach that could lead to identifying the genes most likely responsible for hospital-associated catheter infections.

Students in RIT’s Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition spent two weeks traversing Ghana as part of a global research experience to learn more about the toll of anemia on the West African nation’s women and children.

Meet Luis Reyes-Umana, a fourth-year biomedical science major who traveled to Chile for the fall semester. From July to December, Reyes-Umana took classes and worked in local hospitals to get a taste of what international medicine is like.

Dr. Chris Haltigin ’12 (biomedical sciences) had finished his second year of medical school and was studying for his first set of board exams when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He beat the cancer--twice--and is now an obstetrics-gynecology resident at Beaumont-Royal Oak Health System.

The biomedical sciences program is designed to give students a pathway for pursing clinical doctoral degrees in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and physical therapy, as well as graduate degrees in nursing, physician assistant, occupational therapy and medical research.

The first wave of alumni from RIT’s College of Health Sciences and Technology are becoming physicians.