What is biomedical science?
Biomedical science is so many things. At its most basic, it's the use of natural and formal sciences to push health care forward, so patients can benefit from new or refined technologies, treatments or methodologies. Getting more granular, it's a range of specialties; those who study biomedical science can become medical microbiologists, clinical virologists or even biomedical engineers (and that's far from a comprehensive list of all the possibilities).
For Hunter Allen, though, it was more than that. And when he began pursuing biomedical science at Regis University, it was more than an education. To him, it was about “how can you be a good person in this world? How can you seek your responsibility in this world? And changing it, bettering society through reflection.”
How Regis helped him discover health care
"My road to a medical career, and Regis University, is a little roundabout. If I'm being honest, my career really started when I decided to be a bus driver while finishing my accounting degree. It was perfect at the time — I needed to support myself while I finished school, and it both paid well and fit in my college schedule. Once I was on the job, though, I realized that I had 130 sets of parents entrusting me with their children every day. When they watched their kids step on the bus, it was like they were telling me, 'This is my child. This is why I make sacrifices. This means everything, and I trust you to do whatever you have to do to keep them safe.' I thrived on that sense of duty.
At the same time, I was discovering that accounting wasn't really for me, even though I loved the challenge of it, the idea of using a set of documents to retrace a history of events, understand a current problem and how to solve it. I asked myself, 'how do I connect my love for the process of accounting with the satisfaction I get from helping others?' It sounded a lot like a parent telling a doctor, 'This is my five-year-old son and he has this cough that I'm worried about. What's happening? How do we treat him?' Consequently, I started researching Biomedical Science programs, and Regis University stood out from the pack."
How biomedical science studies are a gateway to a career
"Regis University's M.S. in Biomedical Sciences is for those who want to pursue a master's level education before entering medical, professional school or nursing careers (for the record, 85% of the program's graduates successfully reach those goals). What makes that high matriculation rate possible, and what I personally loved about my time as a grad student, is that Regis made sure the program had a small, liberal arts college feel, even though we were learning right in the Denver metro area's beating heart."
The meaning of mastery
"When I graduated from Regis with my M.S. in Biomedical Sciences, I was able to move on to medical school feeling prepared and confident because the faculty took a holistic approach throughout my education. In addition to making sure that I mastered all the concepts I needed to know, they also focused on my personal development. They helped me hone my CV and sharpen my personal statement. They pushed me to stop and reflect, to know why I'm pursuing my medical career."
Why choosing Regis made all the difference
"As I'm now preparing to finish medical school, I feel ready for what lies ahead of me. Once I graduate, I'll be working in rural family medicine in Western Nebraska, with a focus in OB. Because Regis drove me to better understand myself, I recognize that I'm pursuing this work because there is a joy I get out of having responsibility like that I had when I was a bus driver.
Throughout my journey, I have never had a day in which I don't wake up and jump out of my bed — even if it's 3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning — excited for what I get to do because there is a joy in treating patients. I think Regis is what really allowed me to recognize that vocation.