Program Overview
Pre-Medicine and Health Careers
Make a lasting difference in lives and communities.
Professor Tracie Paine works with an undergraduate research assistant on the neurobiology of mental health.
Photo credit: Jennifer Manna
Health Sciences in a Liberal Arts Context
Health professions represent the second highest employment sector among Oberlin alumni
Science with a Positive Social Impact
The curricular strengths of Oberlin’s science education combined with our ethos of social engagement prepare our students with the tools needed to make new discoveries, the skills to communicate them, and the passion to have them make a difference.
Health Engagement from the Local to the Global
Oberlin’s career development center works with students interested in the health field to secure summer and Winter Term internships as well as physician shadowing opportunities.
Featured Courses
NSCI 103
Environmental Toxicology and Global Health
This course introduces students to key concepts in the history and dynamics of global public health. Students will examine the basics of toxicology, environmental science, neuroscience, and other fields as they apply to the effects of environmental pollutants on diseases.
- Taught by
- Gunnar Kwakye
RELG 249
Medical Ethics
This course explores major topics pertaining to the field of medicine and research. Attending to the diverse array of religious, philosophical, and legal perspectives, students gain an appreciation for the complexities surrounding decision making on issues such as genetic engineering, children and medicine, and global infectious diseases.
- Taught by
- Joyce Kloc Babyak
CHEM 254
Bioorganic Chemistry
Learn how chemistry transforms living systems. This unique organic chemistry offering was designed to provide life science students the opportunity to learn mechanisms and structures typical of organic chemistry II within a biological context. This, along with Biology 213, covers the basic biochemistry required of pre-medical/health students.
- Taught by
- Jason Belitsky
BIOL 312
Physiology
This course explores how the human body works. Both health and disease are foci, which we approach by studying a handful of cases to understand key physiological concepts that apply across varied life forms. Throughout, we integrate function at multiple levels (molecular to whole body) and ways the external environment influences this function.
- Taught by
- Taylor Allen
Student Profiles
Double-Degree Nexial Prizewinner
As a double-degree student at Oberlin, Janet Wu ’21 combined her love of music with her fascination for science. A winner of the Nexial Prize, an award worth $50,000, Wu is now off to Stanford’s Medical School to train for a career as both a physician and a scientist.
Gap Year Options Before Medical School
Joy Udoh ’19 was a neuroscience major on the pre-med track while at Oberlin. During her gap year before medical school, she worked as a doctor’s assistant at Kuchnir Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery.
From Oberlin to Vanderbilt
As a double major in biology and neuroscience with a minor in chemistry, Kate Frost ’15 knew early on that she was on a science track. Now enrolled at Vanderbilt University Medical School, she reflects on how being a student-athlete aided her transition to graduate school.
