Old Dominion News

Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Sciences Careers helps Virginia Western students make connections

Students usually are the ones seated in classrooms, listening to a speaker, but two Virginia Western students experienced a role reversal this fall.

Hannah Young and Joshua Long served as panelists at a conference hosted by the Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Sciences Careers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke on Oct. 20, 2022. The partnership is a collaboration of educators, employers and economic development professionals seeking to improve health sciences education and align instruction to meet the workforce needs of the region’s health employers. As part of GO Virginia Region 2, the partnership’s service area takes in the Roanoke and New River valleys, the Alleghany Highlands and the greater Lynchburg region.

The partnership designed topics at this conference for people who work with learners who have the potential for careers in the health sciences. Speakers included industry leaders in healthcare and biotech information who helped showcase the wide variety of well-paying positions that are in high demand in health and life sciences in the region. Virginia Western Community College was one of many institutions with tables for conference attendees to visit and receive information about available programs.

Dr. Veronica van Montfrans is Associate Director of Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, and Research Assistant Professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI) at VTC. “One of the major goals of the Blue Ridge Partnership is to communicate that there are so many on-ramps for individuals who wish to pursue a career in health care,” she said. “We want people to understand that if they want to do this – there is a way!”

Young and Long are recipients of the Fralin Futures Finish Line Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship program at Virginia Western for students in STEM-H (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and health care) programs of study. The Fralin Futures program funds recipients’ final two semesters and offers cohort activities and mentorships affiliated with FBRI.

Young and Long joined four other undergraduate and graduate students on the panel.

Long told the panel about his goals to use mechanical and biomedical engineering to create affordable prosthetics. Students’ expanded answers to career questions were available online for all conference attendees to use as reference later; in those answers, Long explained more about his academic path. “I was originally a health science major here at VWCC because my goal in life is to help people. I realized after one year in health science that my strong suit was mathematics, and I had a genuine curiosity for its various applications,” he said. “If a student’s passion for health science comes from a place of wanting to help others, there are several careers they can consider that contribute to health science but aren’t immediately that.”

Young aspires to attend medical school and become a pediatric surgeon. She advises aspiring health sciences students to measure their enthusiasm for their coursework. “It’s obviously going to be hard work, but if it’s something that you’re interested in, it’s worth the hard work,” she said, “especially if you enjoy those classes. If you’re not enjoying those classes, then it’s not worth it. I love my classes, so it’s rewarding for me to be in them.”

Young met representatives from Roanoke College, where she is considering transferring after she graduates from Virginia Western, as well as other attendees. “We got to meet the Virginia Secretary of Health, Bill Hazel. He said we were a group of well-spoken students who were obviously excited about the future of health science,” Young recalled.

Original source can be found here