Health Professions

Health Professions Committee

The Health Professions Committee (HPC) is composed of biology and physical sciences professors* who advise students preparing for careers in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and allied health fields. Interested students are assigned an HPC faculty adviser as early as freshman year. The adviser serves as a mentor for career options and service within the field and formulates the student's letter on behalf of the Health Professions Committee.

Committee members inform students of the requirements of various professional school exams, such as the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), DAT (Dental Admission Test), and VCAT (Veterinary College Admission Test). The committee is a major factor in the success of SJC graduates, as health professionals and as in-service members in our communities.

*Health Professions Committee (in alphabetical order)

Dr. Michael Hanophy, Professor of Biology

Dr. Jeonghee Kang, Associate Professor of  chemistry, co-chair

Dr. Pamela Lovejoy, Assistant Professor of Biology, co-chair

Dr. Kestrel Perez, Associate Professor of Biology

Dr. Jill Rehmann, Associate Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Joao Ribeiro, Assistant professor of Chemistry

Dr. Bor-Shuen Wang, Assistant Professor of Biology

Preparation for Health Professions

Articulated Summer Programs at SUNY Downstate Medical Center

At the Brooklyn Campus, an articulation agreement with SUNY Downstate Medical Center allows for minority students to participate in six-week summer programs, which educates students on a variety of medical-related professions and prepares participants for acceptance into the medical school.

Articulated Podiatric Medicine Program

St. Joseph’s College offers an accelerated biomedical program, where students spend two years at the College, then four years at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. Accepted students receive a B.S. in Biology from St. Joseph’s after three years of studying. On completion of the program, the D.P.M. (Doctor of Podiatric Medicine) is awarded.

Students are expected to maintain an honors GPA while at SJC and score satisfactorily in the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), which is taken in April of the program’s second year.

For details of this program, students should consult Dr. Frank Antonawich, chair of the Department of Biology.

Candidacy for Health Professions

When students are invited for an interview with a health professional institution, the Health Professions Committee conducts a mock interview to discuss the protocol and probable questions.

An official letter of recommendation for each student is prepared by the adviser and approved by all members of the committee. This letter kept on file even after graduation, is submitted to all health professional institutions selected by the student.

Some of the professional schools attended by our graduates include:

Medicine and Health Professions

• Columbia University

• Cornell University

• New York College of Osteopathic Medicine

• New York College of Podiatric Medicine

• New York Medical College

• New York University

• Ross School of Medicine

• St. Louis University

• Stony Brook University

• SUNY Downstate

• SUNY Upstate at Syracuse

• University at Buffalo

• University College of Dublin

• University of Georgia

• University of Pennsylvania

• University of Pittsburgh

Graduate Schools

• Case Western Reserve

• Columbia University

• CUNY Brooklyn College

• CUNY Hunter College

• CUNY John Jay College

• CUNY Queens College

• Long Island University

• McGill University

• Polytechnic Institute of NYU

• Purdue University

• St. John’s University

• University of North Carolina

• University of Notre Dame

• University of Rochester

Dentistry

• Columbia University

• New York University

• Stony Brook University

• University of Pennsylvania

Physical Therapy

• Creighton University

• Mercy College

• University of Pennsylvania