Expanding Opportunities Through Partnership

Stephane Owusu-Sarpong '15, is now a medical student at Albany Medical Center. The new UAlbany-Albany Med EAPP partnership will allow more UAlbany students to pursue a career in medicine. Photo by Carlo de Jesus.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 15, 2018) – UAlbany's two new cross-institutional partnerships, announced during intersession, have lofty goals: One aims to create a more efficient academic experience and the other to decrease health disparities.

Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

An agreement between the University at Albany and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) will allow students to simultaneously work towards both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Health degree, creating a more efficient academic experience — specifically less cost and less time — for students to earn two degrees.

Under the partnership, students studying for a bachelor’s degree at ACPHS will be able to apply, and if accepted, seamlessly matriculate into UAlbany’s Master of Public Health program after three years, before they have fulfilled all of their undergraduate requirements. As the students begin work towards a master's in Public Health at UAlbany in their fourth year of study, they will accrue credits that can transfer back to ACPHS to complete their undergrad requirements. The same credits will count toward their master’s degree.

The agreement will speed up the process for students looking to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in Public Health, allowing them to complete both in five years rather than six.

“We are particularly enthusiastic about this partnership and program because of the high caliber of students at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences,” said Vice President for Health Sciences Laura Schweitzer. “These students are exceptionally prepared to come to the University at Albany and their readiness to start graduate school is apparent,” she continued.

Read more about the program here.

Albany Medical College

The University at Albany and Albany Medical College (AMC) are launching a new program to pave the way for qualified UAlbany students to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from AMC and combat the under-representation of certain demographics in the medical field.

The Early Assurance Pathway Program will recruit, retain and matriculate highly competitive UAlbany undergraduate students from demographic sectors traditionally underrepresented in the medical profession, as well as first-generation and low-income students to earn an MD from AMC. Student diversity in medical education has been identified as a key component in creating a physician workforce that can best meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population.

The program will build upon an existing partnership between UAlbany and AMC that offers a competitive program for pre-medical students who entered UAlbany as freshmen to be assured of admission to AMC two years earlier than the normal application year and three years before entrance to medical school. Under the new program, an additional 7-10 UAlbany students will be admitted into AMC’s MD program.

“The EAPP is another prime example of the outstanding educational opportunities that can be afforded to students when institutions collaborate,” said UAlbany Provost James Stellar. “The students who will join this program will not only make UAlbany and AMC proud, but they will be instrumental in the University’s ongoing initiatives to mitigate health disparities and improve the health of communities worldwide.”

Read more about the program here.

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