Programs in health sciences
Those pursuing careers in the growing and challenging world of health sciences will find exceptional programs at Bloomsburg University with a good track record of preparing students for immediate employment or professional education.
Pre-medicine, pre-dental, pre-podiatry
Katie Huff, a senior Nursing major from Mechanicsburg and graduate of Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School, will join the staff at Hershey Medical Center after graduation to work in pediatric oncology and hematology. She chose Bloomsburg because of the university's reputation in Nursing and, upon visiting the campus immediately felt right at home. Having served as president of the BU Honors Program and chairing its recruiting efforts in her junior year, she also did research on Staphylococcus aureus transmission in heathcare settings and did two externships at Hershey. She also manages the student learning lab in the nursing department to mentor younger students in nursing practice. Huff says nursing is "a lot different and a lot harder" than she expected as a high school student, especially beginning with the first clinical work students do at area hospitals in their sophomore year. Her preference to pediatrics centers around her interest in working with long-term care patients.
Pre-professional programs in medicine, podiatry, pharmacy and dental surgery lead to high success rates in admission to medical, dental and pharmacy schools throughout the United States. Students receive advisement to take the necessary science and liberal arts courses to prepare them for admission to professional programs.
Allied Health Programs
Allied health preparatory programs include pre-physical therapy, pre-occupational therapy, pre-pharmacy, pre-physician assistant, and pre-cytotechnology. Students usually spend two to four years of study at Bloomsburg, and then transfer to another institution for clinical and further specialized training. Students follow a course of study that prepares them for entry into programs at different schools and for a degree in biology if they wish to remain at Bloomsburg University for four years. Bloomsburg University does not offer specific degrees in these areas. These preparatory programs provide the advantage of combining a quality, reasonably priced education at a rural university, with training at a major, often urban, medical center.
Audiology and Speech Pathology
The undergraduate program in audiology and speech pathology prepares students for admission to graduate education in either audiology or speech-language pathology. The entry-level credential for speech/language pathology is a master's degree, and a clinical doctorate for audiology. As such, Bloomsburg University does not make recommendations for state certification in either discipline at completion of the undergraduate program.
Bloomsburg hosts a doctoral program in Audiology and a master's program in Speech-Language Pathology, and the facilities include a professional audiology and speech pathology clinic on campus.
Clinical Laboratory Science
Bloomsburg offers a clinical laboratory science (medical technology) program leading to a bachelor of science degree from BU that includes a year of clinical work at one of seven affiliated hospitals.
Exercise Science
Designed to prepare students for the wide range of careers in the growing field of wellness and fitness, Exercise Science at Bloomsburg is unique among State System of Higher Education universities. This challenging and demanding program leads to careers in education, corporate wellness programs, health care, and research environments as well as in sports medicine and athletic training.
Health Physics
Through the Department of Physics and Engineering Technology, a bachelor of science program in health physics prepares students to work with the most current technologies in nuclear medicine, specifically to prepare them for admission to nationally-recognized graduate programs.
Medical Imaging
Bloomsburg's bachelor of science degree follows three years of preliminary study at BU and then clinical experience in a hospital setting for work in radiography, nuclear medicine, sonography, radiation therapy, cardiovascular interventional radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, positron emission tomography, and mammography.
Nursing
BU also hosts highly-regarded bachelors and masters programs in Nursing for high school graduates interested in becoming registered nurses as well as students in nursing schools who seek a bachelors and/or masters degree.
Specializations in the MSN program include:
- Adult Health and Illness Clinical Nurse Specialist
- Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner
- Community Health Nurse Specialist in Administration or School Health
- Nursing Administration
- MSN Program for Individuals Currently Practicing as CRNA, CRNP, or CNM