Explore the clinical, diagnostic and rehabilitative services within continuum of care and learn the foundational skills needed to pursue numerous health care careers or graduate study in many health-related disciplines.
The BS in Health Science Studies program is an interdisciplinary program that covers skill sets with applications to health-related professions with and without direct patient care. These include nutrition, radiology, biomedical sciences, optometry, medical administration, health policy, community public health and biotechnology. Completion also can pave the way to medical and dental school, as well as graduate programs in fields such as physician assistant, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work and medical laboratory sciences.
This program allows you to explore a variety of interests while working toward specific goals. There are 4 academic tracks for students to choose from:
This program places a strong emphasis on individualized advising. You’ll be assigned academic advisers who help match your coursework to potential experiential opportunities, including internships, community engagement and international research, that align with your career goals. First-year students also take a career exploration course that exposes you to the breadth and depth of the health care field.
Percentage of Quinnipiac Health Science Studies graduates who are employed or in graduate school 6 months after graduation. (Quinnipiac Alumni Survey 2019)
Our customizable and flexible program makes it easy for students to expand on its core requirements by selecting a minor or a double major.
With permission of the program directors, students interested in pursuing their master’s degree upon the completion of their bachelor’s may apply to take up to 9 credits of graduate-level coursework in their senior year, which may be applied toward both the undergraduate and graduate business programs, including:
Master of Business Administration
MS in Organizational Leadership
Qualified students also can enroll in several dual-degree and accelerated dual-degree programs, including:
Dual-Degree BA or BS/MBA 4+1 (electives available in health care management)
Dual-Degree BA or BS/JD (3+3) (health law concentration available)
Accelerated Dual-Degree BS/MSW (3+2)
(Invitation only)
Well-qualified applicants who are not accepted into the entry-level Dual-Degree BS in Health Science Studies/Master's Physician Assistant (ELMPA) program may be invited into the physician assistant-preparation (PA-Prep) concentration, which is part of the health science studies major. Top candidates from PA-Prep will have the opportunity in their junior year to be considered for limited spaces in the ELMPA program.
Yadley Turnier ’19
Yadley Turnier ’19 knew majoring in health science studies would lead to many career possibilities. Courses she took during her junior year on nutrition and preventable diseases steered her toward the field of public health.
After graduating, Turnier landed a position at FoodCorps, a national nonprofit that trains and places emerging leaders in limited-resource schools for a year of service. As a FoodCorps AmeriCorps service member at Green Village Initiative, Turnier teaches students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds to grow and cook their food, steers them towards the healthiest food options and promotes a schoolwide culture that celebrates healthy food.
“If kids learn nutritional fundamentals early, they won’t be as prone later on to obesity and diet-related diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers,” Turnier said.
She teaches healthy eating habits, cooking, gardening and nutrition fundamentals to children in kindergarten through fifth grade at both the Read School and the Interdistrict Discovery Magnet School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She also collaborates with the Thomas E. Carroll Nutrition Center to integrate local, farm-fresh foods into the schools’ breakfast, lunch and snack programs.
“If my students are getting two of their meals each day from school, then they should be the most beneficial meals possible,” Turnier said.
Turnier is motivated by the difference she has made. In 2020, she returned for a second year with FoodCorps and began a master’s degree in global public health.
Lauren Schwartz ’10
As a Rite Aid pharmacist, Lauren Schwartz ’10 usually sees customers when they are sick. Occasionally, she hears about a healthy outcome. Recently, a regular customer stopped by the Rite Aid in Northford, Connecticut, to tell Schwartz she was cancer-free.
“It was heartwarming to hear good news,” she said. “To know that someone has overcome their illness is very motivating.”
Schwartz has been a pharmacist with the Rite Aid chain since 2015 and pharmacy manager in Northford for nearly two years. She administers immunizations, counsels customers on drug interactions and instructs them in the use of medical devices.
She also keeps an eye out for her customers’ well-being and that sometimes means challenging the dosing requested by providers and spotting patients who might be abusing prescription drugs.
During her undergraduate years, she was interested in health care but wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. “I thought about nutrition — how food affects the body — and then I became more interested in how medicines work in the body,” she explained. After graduating, she continued her studies at the University of Saint Joseph, earning a doctor of pharmacy degree.
Schwartz shares her enthusiasm for the field with Quinnipiac students. She teaches both Foundations of Pharmacy and Pharmacological Interventions for Common Medical Conditions and hires students as pharmacy technicians to let them experience the work. She also co-founded QU’s Pre-Pharmacy Club.
She credits Cynthia Christie, assistant dean for career development, with putting her in touch with people in the pharmacy field while in school. “Quinnipiac staff members have an amazing ability to help students network,” she said.
Our undergraduate admissions counselors are here to answer any questions you may have and help you navigate the application process.