Introduction
Kansas City University (KCU) established the College of Biosciences (COB) in 2004 to offer a graduate education to students wishing to pursue a Master of Science (MS) in Biomedical Sciences. Since the graduation of the first class in 2006, there has been significant growth in the number of graduates. The College’s vision is to educate graduate students from diverse backgrounds in an environment that allows students to develop into critically thinking innovators in research and health care professions. Students interested in pursuing a MS degree in Biomedical Sciences can enroll in either the one-year non-research or two-year research program. Beginning in fall 2017, a new addition to the COB will be the Doctor of Clinical Psychology (PsyD) program.
To meet the College’s mission of fostering intellectual development and scholarly training, students complete advanced coursework in various required and elective biomedical sciences. Graduates of the MS in Biomedical Sciences degree programs are prepared for careers in research, teaching or service in the life sciences and health care fields. Our COB alumni have successfully entered into graduate and doctoral training programs in various health care professions, including medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing.
Graduate Education in Biomedical Sciences
The largest student enrollment in the COB is in the one-year non-research (non-thesis) track culminating in a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree. This degree program began with seventeen students in 2005 and has grown to over 100 students today. The program track is structured to provide graduate students with advanced education in the biomedical sciences, including core courses in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, cell biology, and epidemiology. Students also select from elective courses, including microbiology, histology, human development, and human genetics. This program track culminates in graduate students developing and presenting a scientific seminar lecture to faculty and peers and the successful completion of a comprehensive examination.
Training Laboratry Research Scientists
Graduate students who select the two-year research (thesis) track conduct studies under the mentorship of a primary investigator, who serves as the students’ thesis committee chairperson. Current research-track students are studying neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson, Alzheimer), musculoskeletal diseases (Duchenne muscular dystrophy), virology (Zika virus) and hematological diseases (iron overload and leukemia). Student research activities occur on the main KCU campus in laboratories in the Dybedal Research Center, as well as at partner institutions within the Kansas City area, including Midwest Research Institute (MRIGlobal). The students’ research culminates in a written thesis and a public thesis defense of their project. Student research is presented at national biomedical conferences, including the American Society of Human Genetics, American Society of Hematology and American Association of Cancer Research. Many of the graduate students in the two-year track are interested in becoming future physician-scientists, and KCU’s master’s program effectively prepares them to become premiere research physicians.
Programmatic Support and Successes
To support career selection among all graduate students, KCU has added a dedicated Career Counselor to the staff, who serves the Student Services division in guiding students to career options, including subsequent educational training in the fields of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, physician assistant, optometry, physical therapy and health care law, to list just a few examples. For the COB Class of 2016, 68 percent transitioned into doctoral training programs, with the majority entering medical school at either KCU or national medical schools. An additional 6% of this graduating class found careers or jobs that were related to the biomedical sciences.
Inside his on-campus lab, Dr. Abdulbaki Agbas guides a student researcher in leading-edge research techniques.
One of the exciting examples of KCU-COB’s mission of generating the scientist of tomorrow is two-year research student Macy Potts (Class of 2018). Potts has a promising opportunity to work on understanding how the Zika virus leads to disease. She is actively working in partnership with a nationally recognized researcher at MRIGlobal, Dr. Carl Gelhaus. For Potts, this means being involved in unique and vital research, and learning from a premier researcher in Kansas City involved in the fight against a major threat to global health. This team of biomedical scientists is working hard to make a difference in understanding Zika, potentially leading to the development of a treatment for the disease and for the devastating medical outcome associated with it. KCU is extremely proud of this win-win collaboration. Our student has a career-defining research opportunity, and MRIGlobal has an outstanding and passionate student-investigator to mentor and train as a future biomedical researcher.
Future Programs
The COB has undergone tremendous growth in its enrollment, and now is moving forward with the development of new programs, such as the Doctor of Clinical Psychology, which will begin in the fall of 2017. Consistent with this approach, the College is exploring the development of a PhD in Biomedical Sciences program. This program will constitute a significant research engagement by doctoral students. Currently at KCU, areas of research include neurodegenerative disease, neuromuscular disorders, cardiology and hematology studies. In addition, graduate student research opportunities at partner institutions in the areas of cancer and infectious disease, along with research on endocrinology-based illness, such as Type 1 diabetes, will enhance the success of PhD research impacting these fields. With the further development of research at KCU and its partnerships with other institutions, KCU believes the time is right to explore this new program. The establishment of a PhD program also creates the opportunity to develop a dual degree DO/PhD program for the training and education of physician-scientists who would bring their biomedical sciences expertise to clinical health care in a translational fashion. The prospect of deriving findings in the clinic, which would drive research activities in the laboratory for development of studies and lead to information that could be returned to the clinic and bedside of patients for innovative treatments, would be the goal of this program.
Biography
Robert White, PhD, Dean; Larry Segars, PharmD, Associate Dean; Marshall Andersen, PhD, Associate Professor; and Margaret Kincaid, PhD, Assistant Professor, are all with Kansas City University College of Biosciences.
Contact: RWhite@kcumb.edu
