Four PHEAST undergraduate students visited UNMC’s College of Public Health on Nov. 18 in connection with the college’s open house event to learn more about careers and graduate programs in public health .
PHEAST, or the Public Health Early Admissions Student Track, is a health professions pipeline program designed to recruit, educate and graduate public health leaders committed to improving population health outcomes in Nebraska.
The students were welcomed by Patrik Johansson, M.D., associate professor in the College of Public Health and director of Rural Health Education Network (RHEN), who also provided an overview and background of the PHEAST program and the public health profession. The RHEN education and outreach program manager, Sonja Russell, gave a presentation on RHEN undergraduate program offerings. After a meeting with students and mentors, and a campus tour, the students then attended the college’s open house sessions in the afternoon.
Students who participate in PHEAST are provided mentoring, free tuition during their junior and senior years at their undergraduate institution, a scholarship for the Foundations of Public Health course, a three-credit-hour graduate course required as part of the Master of Public Health program.
PHEAST students who successfully complete their undergraduate program of study also benefit from automatic admission into the College of Public Health. Students from the University of Nebraska Kearney, Chadron State College, Peru State College and Wayne State College are eligible to apply for the program.
Since its inception in 2012, one PHEASTstudent has graduated from UNMC, two are now at UNMC and five are in the pipeline.
PHEAST students who attended the event are listed below by their hometowns:
- Grand Island — Meghan Krajicek, Wayne State College
- Lincoln — Dylan Reinhardt, Peru State College
- McCook — Patricia Mitnik, Chadron State College
- Sterling — Derek Julian, Peru State College