BIMS

The School of Natural and Computational Sciences congratulates Crystal Garcia for being accepted as one of 28 participants in the UT Southwestern Scholars Program in Organic Chemistry (SPOC).  This program begins Tuesday, June 1, 2010 and ends Thursday, August 5, 2010.

The SPOC includes an exciting research component in which students will be randomly assigned to one of two organic chemistry research projects.  The experimental course content will include supplemental exercises, and a computer game or written exercises.  All the selected students benefit from this program as both groups will receive a strong foundation in organic chemistry. and will participate in a clinical preceptorship.

Crystal is looking forward to the summer, “I hope to get some new insights into the medical profession as well as learning more organic chemistry!”

We wish her well and are hoping to get an email once in a while to let us know how she is getting on!

The vision of the Biomedical Science program at McMurry is to teach biology from the perspective of molecules, cells, and human health.  It is often easy to see the emphasis on molecules and cells.  We have courses like Genetics, Microbiology, Human Physiology.  However, we are never far from a discussion of how these elements of biomedical science influence human health and wellness.  To say one does not go without the other would be a fair statement.

I believe our focus on human health really contributes well to understanding the concept of public health.  Public health can be seen in a variety of ways.  Most obvious would be the emphasis on healing the sick or preventing illness.  Our courses focus on these elements as we study how life works, what happens when it doesn’t work well, and how man has contributed to rectifying the problems to restore health.  Less obvious, but no less important, is the need for us to consider exercise and wellness and health policy and administration and education when we consider health and wellness of individuals AND communities.  When expanded in these ways, such things as promoting active lifestyles, dietary awareness, food safety, veterinary health care, and mental health all contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of what constitutes public health.  Limiting ourselves to consideration of DNA and drugs and cells and microbes severely restricts and underestimates the concept of health in all its dimensions.

 McMurry’s BIMS program represents one of the keystones for a comprehensive approach to teaching public health and safety on our campus.  The Department of Kinesiology’s Exercise Science & Human Performance program is an excellent partner, along with the Department of Psychology’s focus on mental health.  Who knows – maybe one day we will borrow from these and other areas of campus to build a bona fide Bachelor’s degree in Public Health!

What a crazy winter it has been in Abilene!  It is snowing AGAIN, and McMurry’s classes will start at 11 this morning to give students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to take their time and travel safely to campus.  This make at least three “major” storms here this winter – enough snow and ice to delay or cancel classes.  Right now we are at 4 inches of snow and growing.  For a city where the average high temperature this time of year is in the 60s and low in the 40s, it has been a rude and rough winter.

Some people have all the luck.  Dr. Larry Sharp, our human biology guru and the pre-health advisor, was invited to tour one of the Caribbean medical schools this week.  So, while we are digging out and scraping ice, the only ice he’s worried about is for his tea as he watches tropical sunsets from his cabana.  The only scraping he’ll do is to get the sand off his feet after a walk along the beach. Why didn’t we have trips like this when I was pre-med advisor?

One connection we hope Dr. Sharp will make this week is with one of our graduates.  Dr. Cari Roark Sloma received her doctorate in medical immunology from the Mayo Clinic’s Graduate School.  After completing a special year-long post-doctoral program for medical scientists working with physicians and working in industry a couple of years, she moved her family to the Caribbean to join the faculty at one of the medical schools in the region.  Not bad for an El Paso girl who saw great success at McMurry in her academic and extracurricular activities – a very involved student who didn’t give up life to thrive in the sciences.  But she also took advantage of some special opportunities beyond our campus.  She was a participant in two NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer programs at TTU and Indiana after her sophomore and junior years.  Result?  A passion for biomedical research developed in Cari and led her to this time and place of her life.

Larry, give her a hug and tell her we’re proud of her!  Then, bring some of that tropical weather back with you to Abilene.  Please!