Since the pandemic, the need for medical staff, medical centers, and technology continues to rise, so we can anticipate an increase in student enrollment in the Health Sciences as well as university medical centers, Advent Health, and BayCare in the state of Florida.

Wendy Sarubbi reported, that U.S. Congressman Darren Soto recently presented the funding ($900,000) to the University of Central Florida–College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences researchers to identify the entire genetic makeup of viruses like COVID-19 and other microbes.

With this demand for medical expertise and service, students who want to pursue a field in Health and Sciences should be equipped with support, mentorship, and training inside and outside the classroom. While attending medical school and transitioning to a career in Health and Sciences, students will seek mentorship from their professors and medical staff via residencies, hospitals, and clinics. Multiple student-run clinics in the state of Florida provide hands-on experience for medical students.  Florida State University FSU Primary Health; University of Central Florida KNIGHTS Clinic; University of Florida UF Equal Access Clinic Network; University of South Florida USF BRIDGE; and the University of Miami University of Miami Clinics. Beyond student-led clinics and university partnerships with hospitals and medical research centers, universities provide medical missions abroad to assist countries in need of medical staff.

The University of Miami posted career opportunities for radiologists on their LinkedIn page: University of Miami Health System as well as the opening in the fall of 2024– UHealth Doral Medical Center powered by the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Surrounding communities would have access to multiple services such as Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology/Endocrine Surgery, Endovascular/Vascular Surgery, and General Surgery.

Medical students who attend colleges and universities with more opportunities on campus will accelerate in their careers—not to mention access to resources will be streamlined. In this respect, we will see a trend with more hospitals, clinics, and research labs on college campuses. Students will continue to build rapport and relationships with physicians on-site as they work on medical studies in the classroom.

Students like Devaun Reid from the University of South Florida continue to publish articles in medical journals or databases such as Research Gate to showcase medical research. Also, a recent graduate from the University of South Florida, Jaclyn Abraham had worked at the student-run clinic, BRIDGE to increase her skillset in the medical field as a director of the Dermatology clinic. In addition, recent graduate, Amanda Dimauro from Hillsborough Community College had been actively involved with the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and attended the Future Physicians for Change in Washington DC this summer to advocate for better health services in communities.

From the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute, Nancy Padilla-Coreano, Ph.D., was recognized and named a recipient of the 2024 McKnight Scholar Award. In Todd Taylor’s article, MBI researcher honored with McKnight Scholar Award, he clarifies the significance of the award: “ for young scientists who are in the early stages of establishing their own independent laboratories and research careers and who have demonstrated a commitment to neuroscience.” Padilla-Coreano was also recognized on UF Health’s LinkedIn page highlighting the award as a 3-year project funded at the amount of $225,000.

The hands-on experiences students have with patients, medical documents, research, conferences, scholarships, and labs should be collected in a portfolio. According to Shrivastava, in the article, Streamlining Medical Journey: Leveraging Portfolios for Mentoring Medical Students “Portfolios provide them an opportunity to showcase their work, achievements, and growth, and through effective mentoring, we can empower future doctors and shape their path to success in years to come.” The rise in medical facilities on and off campus shows the commitment politicians and universities have to students conducting research in Health and Sciences and servicing our communities with treatment and care.