Biology and Health Sciences

The Biology Health Sciences concentration is designed for students seeking a degree in biology while preparing for application to healthcare related professional school including veterinary, pharmacy, physician’s assistant, dentistry, physical therapy, or medical school. The courses in this concentration help student fulfill admission requirements or recommendations and are useful in preparing for professional school admission tests (MCAT, PCAT, and similar). In addition there a number of electives that, with the help of our pre-health advisor (link to advising), are chosen to fulfill program specific requirements.

All students in our Health Sciences concentration meet with our pre-health sciences advisor regularly. Our advisor will help you choose classes and shape your degree path for your chosen profession and helps with applications. This includes assisting with mock interviews and coordinating committee letters of recommendation. To date our advisor boasts a 90% placement rate for students meeting entrance requirements.

Students in Health Sciences can also choose to double major in Chemistry with the addition of 3 courses to their degree plan (link to degree plan).

Points of Pride

Students seeking entry into professional health programs (such as medical, dental, veterinary, or pharmacy school) work with a full-time academic advisor dedicated solely to these students.
In 2018, 90 percent of AUM students who worked with that advisor and applied to medical, dental, or veterinary school were accepted.
Nearly 20 percent of students do research with a faculty member and many go on to publish papers and travel to conferences.
Faculty currently have grants from National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Alabama State Department of Education.
Students can join the pre-health honor society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, and get community service and outreach experience.

Put Your Degree to Work

Note: While salaries vary depending on several factors including your level of experience, education and training, geography and industry, here is a sample of the future job growth and salaries in this area.
This program prepares you to go on to professional school, which leads to careers in medicine or health related fields. It is important to remember however, that even with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, many jobs are still available to you.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics sample
Jobs	Median Pay	Job Growth through 2028
Physicians and Surgeons	$208,000	7% (55,400 more jobs)
Veterinarian	$93,830	18% (15, 600 more jobs)
Chiropractor	$71,400	7% (3,700 more jobs)
Dentist	$156,240	7% (11,600 more jobs)
Genetic Counselor	$80, 370	27% (800 more jobs)
Occupational Therapist	$84,270	18% (23,700 more jobs)
Optometrist	$111,790	10% (4,000 more jobs)
Prosthetists	$69,120	20% (1800 more jobs)
Pharmacists	$126,120	0%
Physical Therapist	$87,930	22% (54,200 more jobs)
Physician’s Assistant	$108,610	31% (37,000 more jobs)

For More Information

Biology Department
Auburn University at Montgomery
Goodwyn Hall 301
334-244-3316
biology@aum.edu

Soaring Warhawks

Stacin Wyatt is currently an Emergency Veterinarian at Cobbs Ford Pet Health Center.
Omar Brito-Estrada received a full scholarship to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Ph.D. program.
Elizabeth Smith is earning a Ph.D./M.D at the University of Nebraska on a full scholarship.
Madison Johnson is earning her Veterinary Science degree from Auburn University and was recently commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S.
Krista Hagan is currently completing Medical School in Australia.
Cynthia Bang is currently attending Auburn University Pharmacy School.
Nidhi Chig is attending Physical Therapy School.
Matthew Hadley is attending Pharmacy school at Auburn University.

Program Overview

The course listings below are a representation of what this academic program requires and the available electives. For a full review of this program in detail check the program sheet online catalog AND consult with an academic advisor.

	Sample courses for the Biology Health Sciences program include:
Course Name	Course Description
Orientation to Medical Sciences	A seminar series that explores the different health care careers.
Cells, Molecules, and Life	Our freshman biology is unique. First year biology students have the opportunity to design their own experiment, perform it, analyze the data and then present their work to their peers. A how to for scientists.
Immunology	A tour of both the adaptive and innate immune systems focusing on current thinking and examples. Lab involves designing your own research project and then carrying out the research agenda on a novel system, a toad.
Vertebrate Physiology	A complete tour of all vertebrate systems. This course fulfills the Auburn Pharmacy school pre-requisite and includes a live tissue lab where students get to perform surgeries.
Medical Microbiology	Investigation of the pathogens common to the human body.
Epidemiology	An online course looking at disease progression in populations. The courses is built around classic epidemic case studies.
Virology	Viruses, their biology, history, and behavior.
Genetics	Our genetics labs allows students to discover genes in a nematodes. Students perform their own crosses and maintain their own nematode colonies.
Cell Biology	A study of cells and their function. Lab includes designing an experiment on cancer cell lines to look for compounds that promote or deter cancerous cell growth.

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Biology and Health Sciences