When Biola students arrive on campus as freshmen, most are uncertain about what they want to do when they graduate. Thankfully, for those interested in a medical profession, the Health Careers Club is here to help students decide among various career choices. The purpose of HCC is to expose students on the pre-health professional track to the plethora of opportunities available to them for continuing education and careers in the health field. HCC members range from freshmen to seniors and include all types of pre-health students.

“HCC helps younger students to not only network with more experienced students who have gone through the application processes involved with medical professions, but also encourages them throughout their undergraduate career by helping them to envision their future career,” said David Meyers, the current HCC president.

The HCC faculty advisor is Harvey Havoonjian, a graduate of the UCLA School of Medicine who currently works as an associate professor in the biological sciences department. The club began five years ago when Harvey was volunteering his time to advise and support the small handful of Biola pre-med students. His goal at Biola was to get more Christian health professionals into the workforce and the world to impact it for Christ.

Luckily, at the same time, two Biola students seriously considering medical school were looking for a way to bond and have fellowship with their fellow pre-med hopefuls scattered throughout different classes and majors. The three met up and reestablished the Biola Pre-Med Club from years past, which quickly multiplied in size to include students interested in several different health roles, including physician assistants, physical therapists, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, pharmacists, etc., and renamed it the Health Careers Club. HCC has continued to grow and in the last two years Biola has seen record numbers of Biola seniors getting into medical school, PA school and other health profession schools.

HCC holds monthly meetings at which a variety of speakers present information from the healthcare field. Speakers have included representatives from various health professions, Biola alumni with first-hand experiences from graduate level health education and experts on the application and “getting in” process for the various career paths. Last month’s meeting presented information on the doctor of osteopathy track and stressed the importance of doing summer internships in the medical field.

In addition to helping students choose their profession, HCC also wants to help students get from Biola to that profession. As a part of this goal, HCC is starting a new initiative to do this called the Biola Biomedical Research Initiative. This new initiative aims to help Biola students become more informed about research internships and get accepted to them.

According to Kate Ball, a leader in BRI, “Internships not only provide hands-on experience in science, but educate students through seminars and mentorship to prepare them for graduate education.”

Additionally, HCC wants to increase the general awareness of health careers on campus. Accordingly, they are planning a CPR training day for all Biola students in the spring semester.