Johnson traces her interest in practicing medicine overseas all the way back to elementary school in Pennsylvania, where she heard a presentation about the work of , a nonprofit organization that sends hospital ships to give free medical care in developing countries. Years later, when she began to think about post-undergraduate life, she turned to Google to see what opportunities she could find.

Among those that popped up was the MSIH, a partnership between the of the Negev and the for training medical students with a special emphasis on global health and preventative medicine.

鈥淲hat makes our program unique is we take additional courses that focus on having a global perspective,鈥� said Johnson, whose first-year courses largely include traditional medical classes like physiology, microbiology and biochemistry.

While the program follows a North American curriculum and is designed for medical licensure in the U.S. or Canada, all the classes incorporate global health perspective and issues in some way. One distinctive first-year course, with special emphasis on international health, is Clinical and Global Medicine, looking at issues and skills related to cross-cultural healthcare. Johnson and her classmates also study Medical Hebrew during their first two years.

Once she reaches the fourth year of the program, Johnson will have opportunity to do a clinical rotation in several countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Johnson said as of now she鈥檚 interested in a rotation in India.

In the meantime, she continues to work at her first-year course load, which was interrupted in unexpected fashion last November by violence between the Israeli military and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. On the first day of fighting, sirens went off throughout the night as rockets were fired toward Beer-Sheva. Johnson and a classmate who live together a half-mile from the school stayed inside the whole time, as all students were instructed to do by the school.

After several days of periodic rocket sirens, during which classes at MSIH were cancelled, Johnson caught a train north to calmer areas in Israel. When fighting continued for a week, the school cancelled classes for the remainder of the semester, and Johnson flew home to Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving Day. It gave her an early winter break, but it also meant an early end: she flew back to Israel just before Christmas for a special session of classes and exams to make up for lost time.

In Beer-Sheva, Johnson has also taken advantage of the opportunity to interact with new friends and neighbors who aren鈥檛 enrolled as MSIH, and has gotten involved with a Jewish cultural exchange group for American students. Johnson, who went on when she was a student, said being at 91短视频 鈥渄efinitely helped鈥� prepare her for this new cross-cultural experience, which she plans to extend from the next few years of med school into an entire career of overseas medicine.

At this point, she鈥檚 not exactly sure exactly where she鈥檒l end up, or what kind of medical missions she鈥檒l become involved with, but for now, she knows she鈥檚 headed in the right direction.

Studying human anatomy with colorful charts is one thing. Using a scalpel and an actual, recently living person is an entirely different matter.

鈥淚t was nerve-wracking, honestly,鈥� said Hostetter, now a general medicine intern at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., who plans to become a radiologist. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really understand what that means until you walk into that room and you smell the formaldehyde and you see this human-sized lump in a bag on the table.鈥�

Under the instruction of Dr. Greta Ann Herin, Hostetter and his classmates in 91短视频鈥檚 Mammalian Anatomy class made their first incision down the cadaver鈥檚 back and began working their way down through the muscles and into the spine. By semester鈥檚 end they had performed a detailed dissection of most of the body, giving each student an extremely uncommon opportunity for up-close, hands-on study of human anatomy.

Few U.S. Undergrads Do Human Dissection

Herin, an associate professor of biology, said that for various reasons, including class size, expense, tradition and handling of hazardous materials, very few undergraduate students in the United States have the opportunity to dissect human cadavers. That meant Hostetter was one of just a few first-year medical students who entered his University of Maryland School of Medicine class with prior experience dissecting a cadaver.

鈥淎 lot of my classmates were coming from very prestigious schools with far more resources that 91短视频 has, and they were surprised that I鈥檇 actually gotten to spend a whole semester dissecting a cadaver,鈥� Hostetter said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not something that鈥檚 available most places.鈥�

Faculty at several medical schools in Virginia said no more than 5 to 10 percent of incoming medical students have actually dissected a cadaver.

And a recent article published by Colorado State University noted that its own undergraduate anatomy course was one of the few in the nation in which students dissect cadavers. 91短视频 has offered its students the opportunity to dissect cadavers since at least the mid-鈥�70s, according to biology professor Dr. Roman Miller.

Put Ahead in Med School

Because dissection of human cadavers is so uncommon for an undergraduate pre-medical program, the opportunity gives 91短视频 students who go on to graduate study in medicine and related fields an advantage among their classmates.

鈥淎t 91短视频 we had as good, if not better, hands-on experience than in grad school,鈥� said Jackson Maust 鈥�09, now in his final year of physical therapy school at Ohio State University. 鈥淐ompared to the rest of my classmates in PT school, I was really, really comfortable just stepping in.鈥�

Debbie Boese 鈥�07 Horst said her gross anatomy class in dental school at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was very similar to the course she鈥檇 taken at 91短视频 and made it easier for her to earn an A in the VCU class.

鈥淚 was one of the few people in my class who had actually gone through the whole process, so it was basically like a review,鈥� said Horst, now a practicing dentist in Harrisonburg, Va.

Dr. Richard Krieg, director of the first-year gross and developmental anatomy course at VCU鈥檚 School of Medicine, said that undergraduate experience with dissection, like Horst鈥檚, almost always bodes well for a student鈥檚 performance in the course.

Krieg, who once visited 91短视频 as an anatomy guest instructor at the invitation of professor Melvin Ching (at 91短视频 1996-97), said only a few of his program鈥檚 200 incoming first-year medical students have dissected cadavers as undergrads.

鈥淜ids do very well if they鈥檝e had experience with cadavers, so it鈥檚 a really good thing,鈥� Krieg said.

Staff at the University of Virginia鈥檚 School of Medicine estimate that less than 10 percent of each year鈥檚 156-student incoming medical class have prior human dissection experience.

And at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, Dr. Craig Goodmurphy, director of the human anatomy program, guessed that about 20 percent of the 235 students entering the school鈥檚 medical and physician鈥檚 assistant programs have worked with cadavers. Most of them however, have been limited to cadaver 鈥減rosection鈥� 鈥� either observing a dissection in process or studying an already-dissected cadaver.

Fewer than 5 percent of incoming students have actually participated in a dissection, he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the difference between reading a book and writing a book,鈥� Goodmurphy said. 鈥淎nybody can read a book, but to actually write a book takes a whole different thought process.鈥�

Two or Three Cadavers Per Year

Herin offers the anatomy course to undergraduate biology majors in the fall, sometimes with the help of her laboratory co-instructor, John Spicher, 91短视频鈥檚 chemical hygiene officer. In the undergraduate course, students work in groups of four or five per cadaver. That group size is smaller, Herin said, than in classes at some medical schools.

She and Spicher typically work with two to three cadavers each year in the anatomy class, required for biology majors in the pre-physical therapy track, and taken by many in the pre-professional health sciences track. (Beginning this spring, 91短视频鈥檚 new MA in Biomedicine program will also offer a cadaver dissection course, taught by Dr. Julia Halterman.)

Most 91短视频 nursing and kinesiology students also benefit from Herrin鈥檚 course by observing the dissected specimens for part of their anatomy study. She said that several local high school anatomy classes also usually visit her lab to see the cadavers each year.

91短视频 receives the cadavers from the Virginia Department of Health鈥檚 State Anatomical Program. They cost about $1,500 each to cover the state鈥檚 cost of preserving and transporting the cadavers. That expense, and the fact that dissection is not well-suited to large classes, are two factors that make actual dissection very uncommon at the undergraduate level. The hazardous chemicals involved 鈥� phenol and formaldehyde in particular 鈥� are also a factor.

Maust said he benefitted greatly at Ohio State both from his experience with cadavers at 91短视频 and the instruction he received from Herin and her colleagues in the biology department.

鈥淭he quality of our professors is really unlike anything you get at a larger school,鈥� said Maust. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get teaching assistants. We learn from really high-quality faculty.鈥�

Calling his dissection experience as an undergraduate at 91短视频 鈥渋nvaluable,鈥� Hostetter said he hopes the course will continue, despite 鈥� and because of 鈥� the fact that it鈥檚 so uncommon.

鈥�I really hope that 91短视频 continues to offer that because I think that it鈥檚 invaluable, especially for people who want to go into medicine or other health sciences,鈥� he said.

More info

Learn more online about 91短视频’s undergraduate majors in biology, chemistry, nursing and pre-professional health sciences, and the new MA in biomedicine graduate degree.

Upper-level courses in topics such as , will appeal to and prepare students from science as well as other backgrounds.

“Many people realize after graduation, once they are in the job market, that they would like to prepare to help meet the needs of our society’s aging population or work to address other under-served health care needs,” says , PhD, program director. “This program will build on the skills people bring from other undergraduate programs to prepare for further professional work in the health care industry.”

This is 91短视频’s sixth graduate degree, joining (added in 2010), , , and a . In addition, offers graduate programs in divinity, church leadership and religion.

Program exceeds national average

91短视频 far exceeds the national average of undergraduates who apply and are accepted into medical school. Over the past 10 years, more than 90 percent of 91短视频 students who completed the pre-medical program were accepted to medical school, compared to the current national average of 46 percent.

“Our faith-based approach and trans-disciplinary studies make 91短视频鈥檚 program unique,” said Miller. “We use natural science courses as our core curriculum, and students immerse themselves in the physical, social and spiritual dimensions of biomedicine.”

The MA in biomedicine program adds integrative seminars, practicums and cross-discipline requirements in social science and theological ethics to accent the intersection of faith and science. In addition, students will enroll in a cross-cultural practicum to further hone their skills in a unique cultural setting.

“Unlike other programs, our approach is to educate broadly by combining social science, cross-cultural, theology and ethics courses with our core curriculum in the natural sciences,” said Miller.

One-on-one attention and guidance from faculty mentors is integral to the program.

“As a result of my education at 91短视频, I feel that I am more prepared to take on a medical school curriculum than my fellow classmates,” said Ian Koons ’07, a post-baccalaureate student who is a first-year medical student at American University of the Caribbean. “The 91短视频 education encourages students to explore an eclectic education which instills a strong foundation on which to build a career.”

More information, links

For more information on the contact (540) 432-4400 or ma-biomed@emu.edu.

Learn more about the MA in biomedicine at 91短视频:

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“We were surprised to find that 91短视频 is one of the best represented schools in our class, excluding Penn State itself,” said Brianna Oelschlager, ’11.

Oelschlager, Austin Baer ’06, Ben Ruth ’09 and Jon Spicher ’10 are the latest students to enter Hershey Medical Center after graduating from 91短视频. Other graduates include Anny Smucker, a 2008 alum who served as a mentor to Oelschlager as she made the transition to medical school.

“Anny answered all my questions about coming to Hershey which helped ease my transition into medical school,” said Oelschlager. “She told me that the classes at 91短视频 taught her how to study, which put her one step ahead of many of her classmates.”

Over the past 10 years, more than 90 percent of 91短视频 students who completed the pre-medical program were accepted to medical school, compared to the current national average of 46 percent.

David Leaman, PhD, a 1960 graduate of 91短视频 and physician at Hershey Medical Center said 91短视频 students are prepared for the rigors of medical school. “The education they received, coupled with a strong work ethic and positive attitude, allows them to adjust quicker to medical school than some students.”

Oelschlager said their class schedule has consisted of time in anatomy lab, daily lectures and a course on the “Foundations of Clinical Medicine.”

“The class on the ‘Foundations of Clinical Medicine’ is really interesting because we learn how to perform a cardiac exam and to identify abnormal heart and lung sounds,” said Oelschlager. “But right now our time is mostly devoted to lectures on anatomy and being in the lab.”

With another nine weeks remaining in anatomy, Oelschlager knows their journey into the medical field has just begun.

“I am starting to see that what we are learning now is just building on the foundation of knowledge we gained at 91短视频,” said Oelschlager.

All five of 91短视频’s pre-med students were accepted into medical school for fall 2007. The 100 percent acceptance rate, an 91短视频 release says, is “rare for any school” especially because the national acceptance rate last year was 46 percent.

Typically, 91短视频 sends four to nine students each year to med school. The students are part of the biology department’s pre-professional health sciences (PPHS) program.

, adviser for 91短视频’s pre-professional health sciences program.

For the last 20 years, 91短视频’s acceptance rate has averaged 85 percent, while the national average during that same time hovered around 40 percent, said , 91短视频 pre-professional health sciences adviser.