The Skyline College Science & Research Club in collaboration with the Cañada College Pre Med and Biomedical Club attended the UC Davis Pre Health Conference on Oct. 14.
The UC Davis Pre Health Conference aims to provide attendees with the necessary information and skills needed to succeed in applying and getting into health professional schools, such as medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, physicians assisting programs, nursing programs, etc.
The conference started bright and early at 8:00 in the morning with a complimentary breakfast and networking session. There, students were able to introduce themselves and get situated before the welcoming ceremony.
The keynote speaker was the Interim Dean of Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine, Lars Berglund M.D. Ph.D.
Dr. Berglund gave an excellent speech on the importance of medicine and how certain medical innovations have helped society live longer and healthier lives. He touched upon recent advancements in medical technology such as cancer treatments with high mortality rates and emphasized the importance medical research. He emphasized the need for more doctors by 2025 because of a recent study by the Association of American Medical Colleges, it states that the demand for doctors will increase drastically due to the aging and growing population. There expected to be a shortfall of doctors by at least 46,000 to 96,000. His final remarks gave conference goers enthusiasm and the drive to continue on their day to learn as much as possible.
Hundreds of pre-health professional representatives came to this conference in hopes of recruiting students to apply for their programs which includes schools from all over the United States as well as the European and Caribbean schools. There students were able to receive helpful resources such as how to apply to these schools, what each school is looking for in an applicant and little tips and tricks on how to stand out in your application. Also, there were fun health games to play such as a life sized operation table and a simulation center with a robot giving us a mock stimulation of emergency situations.
Throughout the entire day, we were able to attend 3 different workshops from a list of over 30 different topics. Topics include health care justice, women in healthcare, different panels for different careers, health entrepreneurship, how to finance your education, and many more. These workshops are great for students and advisors who are relatively new to the field. The information learned from this conference is a way for any individual to get their feet wet into a Pre-Health Professional school and gather as much information as they can to plan their next steps. If you are a college freshman or someone new to the field it would be a great learning experience for you to attend this conference.
We would like to thank the Canada College STEM Center for fully funding the tickets and the transportation to UC Davis and the advisor of the Canada Pre-Med and Biomedical Engineering Club for planning and inviting the Science and Research Club to go to this conference.
Article by Vivionna Tran | Photo Courtesy of ucdprehealth
