Our Academic Community

Who we are and what type of students are we recruiting?

Our department is recruiting students who would like to prepare themselves for Medicine, Dentistry and Allied health professions and immediate employment in the Biotechnology sector. We are recruiting future professionals for outstanding graduate programs in the US and we invite them get ready for these programs with us in our department.

Student Job and Graduate Professional Program Recent Placements

  • Chynna Smith (2020) – MD/PhD Program (Albert Einstein Medical School, New York, YK).
  • Anu Sunkara (2020) – NIH Postbaccalaureate Program.
  • 6 students (2021) – Currently competitively applying to US accredited Medical Schools.
  • 3 students (2022) – Placed in jobs in Life Sciences (one of them in a reputable biotech company).

Notable Alumni (more recent graduates to be added)

  • Ekaterina Tomenko (1997) – Family Dentistry practice owner in Montgomery County.
  • Lester Thompson (1983) – Head and neck pathologist, and business owner as a consultant for head and neck and endocrine pathologies. He is a notable Editorial Board member for the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization.
  • Leonard Lee Bailey (1964) – Pediatric heart surgeon. Dr. Bailey became recognized for transplantation and all types of pediatric and infant-open heart surgeries. Specially for performing the first baboon’s heart transplant into Baby Fae (as she became known to the media) in 1984.
  • Charlotte J Coggin (1948) – Was a pediatric cardiologist, cofounder of an international open-heart surgery program. Noted for being instrumental in helping to develop laparoscopic surgery in China.
  • Roscoe Gardner Bartlett Jr. (1946) – Is an American politician who was U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 6th congressional district, serving from 1993 to 2013.

Faculty/Staff Accolades and/or distinctions

List of most recent (last 5 years) peer reviewed publications by the department faculty (in bold):

  • Movahed, A., Johnson, W. Perez SD. Alternative interventions and their effects on reduced symptoms in upper respiratory viral infections: Uncovering the mechanisms (in preparation).
  • Movahed, A., Hembrom, A., Kitching, J., Garcia, J., Puyul S. Perez. SD. Links between life-style disturbances and cognitive performance in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic (in preparation).
  • Nsengiyumva, O. and Miller, S. A. “Synthesis, characterization, and water-degradation of biorenewable polyesters derived from natural camphoric acid” Green Chem., 2019, 21, 973- 978.
  • Perez SD, Tan L, Thyagarajan S,Ghamsary M, Lubahn C, Difrancisco D, and Bellinger DL.  Chronic effects of aging and stimulation of central Imidazoline-1 receptors on sympathetic activity and β-AR-stimulated cAMP production in middle-aged Brown Norway rats. J Neuroimmunol 2018, 324:1-15.
  • Zhang P, Rhodes JS, Garland T Jr, Perez SD, Southey BR, Rodriguez-Zas SL.  Brain region-dependent gene networks associated with selective breeding for increased voluntary wheel-running behavior. PLoS One 2018, 13(8):e0201773.
  • Saul MC, Majdak P, Perez S, Reilly M, Garland T Jr, Rhodes JS.  High motivation for exercise is associated with altered chromatin regulators of monoamine receptor gene expression in the striatum of selectively bred mice. Genes Brain Behav. 2017, 16(3):328-341.
  • Perez, S.D., Du, K., Rendeiro, C., Wang, L., Qian, W., Rubakhin, S.S., Vazhappilly, R., Baxter, J.H.., Sweedler, J.V., Rhodes, J.S.  A unique combination of micronutrients rejuvenates cognitive performance in aged mice. Behav Brain Res. 2017, 320:97-112.

Invited Presentations and Lectureships (last 5 years):

  • Community Seminar Presentation: Understanding how the brain stays healthy to the community in Takoma Park, Maryland, July 2022.  By Dr. Perez and Dr. Gottfried.
  • Dr. Sam D Perez: Invited Keynote speaker at the annual Spencerville Academy STEM Fair 2020.
  • Dr. Sam D Perez: “Genetic differences in sympathetic neurotransmission in animal models of aging: Comparative rat strain studies”.  Special Featured Speaker at the 9th Global Summit on Neuroscience and Neuroimmunology, London, United Kingdom 2019.
  • Dr. Olivier Nsengiyumva: “Nature-derived renewable polymers to replace commodity plastics” 255th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2018.
  • Dr. Sam D Perez: “Secrets to Brain Health”. Featured speaker for the Health Seminar Series, Mt. View Conference Summer meeting, Parkersburg, West Virginia 2017.
  • Dr. Sam D Perez: “Understanding how we learn”. Keynote speaker for faculty and administrators at Ridgecrest Schools, Hyattsville, Maryland 2017.
  • Dr. Sam D Perez: “Understanding your brain’s potential to enhance learning”. Invited guest speaker at the Psychology and Education Departmental meeting at Washington Adventist University, Takoma Park, Maryland 2017.

Awarded Proposals

  • Internal proposal for the acquisition of analytical laboratory instruments to enrich the Biochemistry curriculum in the Department of Biology and Chemistry. Awarded $95,000, Fall 2021.
  • Proposal to donors for the enhancement of study and laboratory areas in the Science Building. Raised $20,000, Summer 2021.
  • Scholarship fund with the School of Dentistry at the University of Maryland for pre-dentistry students who graduate from our department. Via a WAU alumni endowment, $35,000.

Innovations

  • ScISet Program for Freshman students majoring in Biology, implemented in 2018 – A week-long program, during the week before freshmen orientation designed to prepare students for the rigor of the first-year university-level science courses (preparatory boot camp).
  • Stepping Up Student Forum – Consists of meetings between faculty and students to discuss academic challenges and strategies to overcome these challenges.  Discussions involve test-taking skills, studying skills, time management skills and assistance in seeking internship and showing opportunities.
  • Science Seminar – Is an activity in which students in the department engage in activities designed to enhance their critical thinking skills. Activities include the review of the scientific literature and the critical assessment of clinical cases using the literature and available references to come up with the best treatment plan. Students engage in these activities in groups.

Job-ready Laboratory curriculum – Revamped laboratory curriculum across all levels of courses have been implemented since 2019. This has been implemented to provide students with laboratory skills they are expected to use in internships, post-baccalaureate training and jobs in the biotechnology and clinical laboratory sectors. This has resulted in more placement of students in internships at prestigious institutions.

Internship Opportunities

The following institutions have hosted students from our department for summer research Internships, shadowing, volunteer roles and post-baccalaureate training:

  • Post-baccalaureate: National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD.
  • Summer and One-year Research Internship: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, MD.
  • Stepping-Stones Shadowing Program: Adventist Health Hospital network in Maryland.
  • Shadowing: Blanken Podiatry Group in Silver Spring, MD.
  • Shadowing: Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center.
  • Volunteer role: Maryland Department of Health, Department of Homeland Security & FEMA.

Ranking

The academic programs in the Department of Biology and Chemistry are currently in a rebuilding mode. Therefore, the only existing Biology program is not ranked; however, because the quality and competitiveness of students has steadily been improving since 2019. The goal is to increase the recruitment of quality students. 

The most pressing matters preventing the growth of the Department of Biology and Chemistry at WAU are:

  • The need for one more full-time Biology faculty to relieve the overloaded two full-time biology faculty. Another full time-chemistry faculty will be required when the Biochemistry degree is reopened.
  • The direct management of laboratory fees to avoid constant delinquency of unpaid invoices more efficiently for laboratory materials and supplies, paid by students.  It is understood that the real cash flow must be attained so that they are funds available to pay bills; however, this is beyond our control.

Therefore, if these two items are resolved for the department of Biology and chemistry, it will be able to grow.

Long-Term Goal

Accreditation by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

The first phase of curriculum improvement has been revised and implemented accordingly. We are currently in the second phase of this implementation, which consists of the acquisition of instruments and laboratory equipment for training our students in technical skills sought by employers in the life sciences.