Author: Heather Powers

As healthcare’s place in the economy expands and Michigan Tech’s involvement in the health sciences increases, the University’s Career Services office partners with Tech’s Departments of Biological Sciences, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, and Biomedical Engineering to bring Medical Careers Week to students.

“We want to give students the chance to explore the wide range of opportunities in healthcare,” explains Shelley Farrey, coordinator of career development and corporate event promotions in Career Services.

Read more at Michigan Tech News

Michigan Tech was mentioned in an interview with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician from Flint, Michigan who proved children in that city were exposed to lead in tap water. Hanna-Attisha describes an automobile accident she survived as a small child while her father was a postdoc at Michigan Tech.

She was interviewed on Public Radio’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A transcript of the show is available at Tri States Radio, WYPR, wesa.fm and several other public radio stations and websites.

A great opportunity for Pre-Health students to connect with professionals and gain valuable insight into physiology.

The fifth annual meeting of the Michigan Physiological Society will be held on the Michigan Tech campus tomorrow and Friday (June 14-15) with some activities starting today.

In a student-led study, one hour of mindfulness meditation was shown to reduce anxiety and some cardiovascular risk markers.

It sounds like a late-night commercial: In just one hour you can reduce your anxiety levels and some heart health risk factors. But a recent study with 14 participants shows preliminary data that even a single session of meditation can have cardiovascular and psychological benefits for adults with mild to moderate anxiety.

John Durocher (Bio Sci) is presenting the work of a team of Michigan Tech researchers about mindfulness meditation and its ability to reduce anxiety at the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting this week in San Diego, which is attended by approximately 14,000 people.

Read the full story on mtu.edu/news.

A team from Michigan Tech has partnered with Avon to develop a laser-based technology that measures the elasticity and firmness of skin.

As people age, their skin loses its youthful bounce, which leads to wrinkles and sagging. Skin-firming serums and anti-wrinkle creams seek to boost skin elasticity, but companies like Avon currently rely on visual grading by dermatologists or subjective verbal feedback from consumer panels to assess their products.

Using technology developed by Sean Kirkpatrick, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Michigan Tech team is refining a system that could lead to handheld devices that measure the effectiveness and longevity of beauty products. The technology could help Avon create and test experimental formulas quickly and objectively.

Read the full story on mtu.edu/news.

Biomedical Engineering is one of the pathways in which pre-health professions can choose to pursue.

Michigan Tech students interested in medicine, veterinary medicine and other health-related professions participated in the Health Professions Interview Workshop on Monday, April 9. The workshop was designed for students preparing for health-related graduate programs and admission interviews.

Thirteen pre-health students engaged in one-on-one personal interviews, Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) and a large, team-building earthquake simulation.

“I really enjoyed the medical school mock interviews. I think MMIs are so unique to medical school interviews that most students don’t have any exposure to that kind of interaction,” said Rachel Wall, biological sciences student.

MMI interviews are used by many medical and health professions programs as part of the admissions process. An MMI is comprised of short, structured interview stations used to assess non-cognitive qualities and how applicants handle themselves in a particular situation. Some MMI stations involve role-playing situations where the interviewee is required to play a particular role and take an ethical stance in decision-making.

Even the group activity portion is not something most people experience while being evaluated. I think those of us who participated in this will be much better prepared for our medical school interviews than our peers who haven’t had this type of exposure and practice.

The biology department has hosted similar events in the past, but on a much smaller scale. This year, the pre-health department teamed up with Career Services to host a larger workshop for students of all majors with an interest in health professions.

More than a dozen volunteer interviewers, facilitators, actors and evaluators participated in the event—including faculty, students and staff from Pre-health, Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, and Career Services. Central Michigan University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program also provided volunteers for the workshop.

The application and interview process for Health Professions Programs can be daunting, but this workshop, “is a part of the ongoing effort to grow and improve pre-health at Michigan Tech,” according to pre-health coordinator Nicole Seigneurie who spearheaded the workshop.

Elizabeth Scaife, biological sciences major, notes, “the Health Professions Interview Workshop was a wonderful experience full of challenging ethical questions, and a fun group activity that helped me find my strengths and weaknesses for future interviews for vet schools.”