Universidad del Sagrado Corazón launches School of Health and Sciences
Aiming to train professionals holistically in health and well-being, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón (USC) recently introduced its new School of Health and Sciences. With more than five decades of experience offering academic programs in health, natural and social sciences, USC aims to become Puerto Rico’s primary preparatory center for graduate studies in health sciences.
Students at the Sagrado School of Health and Sciences will have a “defined access route” to begin graduate studies through collaboration agreements that Sagrado has established with various local and international institutions. An example of these collaborations is an exclusive agreement in Puerto Rico with the University of the Incarnate Word, in San Antonio, Texas, which reserves admission spaces for students from the Sagrado School of Health and Sciences through the Health Professions Pathway toward graduate programs, including doctoral degrees in pharmacy, osteopathic medicine, optometry, physical or occupational therapy, and a master’s of science in athletic training
Sagrado has also established agreements with Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados; the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts; and the University of Notre Dame of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Among the collaboration agreements in Puerto Rico is the articulation of the bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences at Sagrado with the medicine program at Ponce Health Sciences University, and the articulation of the bachelor’s degree in psychology with the master’s programs at Carlos Albizu University.
“The new School of Health and Sciences is born from our historical commitment to education in the health sciences and the natural and social sciences,” said USC President Gilberto Marxuach-Torrós. “For decades, we have prepared students who have continued graduate studies in these fields and are currently professionals who make valuable contributions to their respective communities.”
Dr. Nadjah Negrón Cartagena, the dean of the Sagrado School of Health and Sciences, said: “Another strength of the School is the commitment to creating a more inclusive space for the sciences and achieving greater representation of women and diverse groups in these fields, with research linked to communities and with the development of academic work of an intern, multi and transdisciplinary nature.
“The School of Health and Sciences shares with the Sagrado School of Communication a minor in Scientific Communications and leads and currently explores along with the Institution’s School of Arts, Design and Creative Industries points of intersection and collaboration between the arts and sciences of health and natural sciences.”
The School of Health and Sciences prepares students to respond to the demand for professionals with an emphasis on research activities and community service. The programs are designed from a holistic perspective, starting from prevention, and including care and attention. It also offers bachelor’s degrees in biomedical sciences, biology, chemistry, psychology, exercise sciences and health promotion, nursing and social work. The latter two programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), respectively.
“We understand that health is not the mere lack of disease, but the well-being of each human being, in their person and their environments understood from perspectives of health and integral ecology. With the new School of Health and Sciences we aspire to strengthen our academic programs, our faculty and our facilities to become the main preparatory center at the undergraduate level for graduate studies in the health sciences and the natural and social sciences,” Marxuach-Torrós added.
