MSBS Student Spotlight

Scott Buchanan, (‘22)

Scott Buchanan, (‘22)

HOW DOES CAMPBELL’S MISSION RESONATE WITH YOU PERSONALLY?

Campbell’s mission resonates pretty deeply with me. It’s honestly, one of the reasons that I came to the program originally. Before I came to the MSBS program, I worked for two years in South Dakota with AmeriCorps on a reservation and it was about as rural and underserved as you could get. Being part of that community definitely struck me how a proper health care structure and proper health care in general can really change a person’s life. A lot of the people that I knew had many issues that were exacerbated by a lack of access. CUSOM really does a good job of fostering the sort of care and context that would be necessary to train physicians who are able to operate in these circumstances and provide care that really will go forward and change people’s lives, which I think is one of the best callings anyone could follow.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR FIRST YEAR AS A MASTER’S STUDENT DURING COVID-19

The first year of a master’s degree program during COVID had its own struggles. One of my biggest takeaways was that the staff of CUSOM and the MSBS program really pulled together, and they really wanted to help us. We felt important to the professors and to the program in general. The professors put a lot of effort into the content they produced, and even though we weren’t able to go into the gross anatomy lab, I think the professors who took care of our lab classes really went above and beyond to make sure that we still had a good anatomical experience, even though we weren’t in-person doing dissections.

The MSBS curriculum is very rigorous - the science background and the ground floor basics along with the advanced material they give prepares you for a lot of what you’re going to see once you move on to medical school.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER GRADUATION?

Moving forward after the MSBS program, I hope to continue my pursuit of osteopathic medicine. I feel like the emphasis that Campbell puts on the tenants of osteopathy have really resonated with me. Continuing on this path is my route to training and providing the highest standard of care that I possibly can when I eventually do become a physician.

EMMANUEL AYENI, (‘22)

EMMANUEL AYENI, (‘22)

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE CAMPBELL MSBS PROGRAM?

I chose the Master of Biomedical Sciences program at CUSOM, because I was looking for a master’s program that would help me reach my next goals. I spoke to Ms. Henderson, the director of the program as she reached out to me personally to talk with me about the program and I was just hooked.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AT CAMPBELL

My experience at Campbell University has been a good one. The people, the med students, the faculty and my own classmates – it’s like a community. We all work to help each other and bolster each other up.

Throughout COVID, we were completely online. The faculty and staff were very helpful in maintaining the environment as though it were in person. They offered virtual office hours and provided support that was still geared towards our success.

HOW DOES THE CAMPBELL MISSION RESONATE WITH YOU PERSONALLY?

One thing that I found important and interesting with CUSOM is that the school is located right in the heart of a rural area. If your goal is to work with individuals in rural areas, then CUSOM is the place to go – at least it was for me. We have different opportunities to serve the underserved, as well as the rural communities through the community care clinic, migrant farm worker clinics, and vaccinations clinics that we’ve offered throughout COVID. These things are important to me as I would like to continue working in rural communities in the future.