Program Overview

School of Interdisciplinary Studies

Healthcare Studies (BS)

The Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Studies is designed for pre-health students who want to pursue careers in healthcare fields such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, health care administration, occupational therapy, physician assisting, and podiatry.

The School of Interdisciplinary Studies offers the degree, which provides the academic foundation for pre-health students to prepare for advanced study as well as the essential knowledge components in healthcare studies.

• Science foundation areas within the degree include biology, chemistry, and physics.
• Healthcare studies areas include pre-health professional development, a healthcare internship, medical terminology, psychological aspects of health and illness, understanding of the U.S. healthcare system, patient education, and prevention.

Bachelor of Sciences in Healthcare Studies

Degree Requirements

The degree requires 120 semester credit hours.

Faculty

• Professors: George W. Fair, Karen J. Prager, Lawrence J. Redlinger, Erin A. Smith
• Associate Professors of Instruction: Kathleen Byrnes, Angela McNulty
• Senior Lecturers: Jillian Duquaine-Watson, Patricia A. Leek, Syed Naqvi, Neall Pogue, Azadeh Stark, Larissa Werhnyak, Tonja Wissinger

Core Curriculum Requirements

The core curriculum requirements include:

• Communication: 6 semester credit hours
  • COMM 1311 Survey of Oral and Technology-based Communication
  • RHET 1302 Rhetoric
• Mathematics: 3 semester credit hours
  • Choose one course from the following:
    • MATH 1325 Applied Calculus I
    • MATH 2413 Differential Calculus
• Life and Physical Sciences: 6 semester credit hours
  • CHEM 1311 General Chemistry I
  • CHEM 1312 General Chemistry II
• Language, Philosophy and Culture: 3 semester credit hours
  • HUMA 1301 Exploration of the Humanities
  • or select any 3 semester credit hours from Language, Philosophy and Culture Core courses
• Creative Arts: 3 semester credit hours
  • Choose one course from the following:
    • ARTS 1301 Exploration of the Arts
    • or select any 3 semester credit hours from Creative Arts Core courses
• American History: 6 semester credit hours
  • Choose two courses from the following:
    • HIST 1301 U.S. History Survey to Civil War
    • HIST 1302 U.S. History Survey from Civil War
    • HIST 2301 History of Texas
• Government / Political Science: 6 semester credit hours
  • GOVT 2305 American National Government
  • GOVT 2306 State and Local Government
• Social and Behavioral Sciences: 3 semester credit hours
  • PSY 2301 Introduction to Psychology
• Component Area Option: 6 semester credit hours
  • BIOL 2311 Introduction to Modern Biology I
  • STAT 2332 Introductory Statistics for Life Sciences
  • or STAT 1342 Statistical Decision Making

Major Requirements

The major requirements include:

• Foundation I: Scientific Foundation Studies: 15 or 23 semester credit hours beyond Core Curriculum
  • All the following:
    • BIOL 2311 Introduction to Modern Biology I
    • BIOL 2111 Introduction to Modern Biology Workshop I
    • BIOL 2312 Introduction to Modern Biology II
    • BIOL 2112 Introduction to Modern Biology Workshop II
    • CHEM 1311 General Chemistry I
    • CHEM 1111 General Chemistry Laboratory I
    • CHEM 1312 General Chemistry II
    • CHEM 1112 General Chemistry Laboratory II
    • MATH 1325 Applied Calculus I
    • or MATH 2413 Differential Calculus
  • And either 8 or 16 semester credit hours of the following courses:
    • 8 semester credit hours of the following:
      • CHEM 2323 Introductory Organic Chemistry I
      • CHEM 2123 Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory I
      • CHEM 2325 Introductory Organic Chemistry II
      • CHEM 2125 Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory II
    • or
      • PHYS 1301 College Physics I
      • PHYS 2125 Physics Laboratory I
      • PHYS 1302 College Physics II
      • PHYS 2126 Physics Laboratory II
    • 16 semester credit hours of the following:
      • CHEM 2323 Introductory Organic Chemistry I
      • CHEM 2123 Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory I
      • CHEM 2325 Introductory Organic Chemistry II
      • CHEM 2125 Introductory Organic Chemistry Laboratory II
      • PHYS 1301 College Physics I
      • or PHYS 2325 Mechanics
      • PHYS 2125 Physics Laboratory I
      • PHYS 1302 College Physics II
      • or PHYS 2326 Electromagnetism and Waves
      • PHYS 2126 Physics Laboratory II
• Foundation II: Healthcare Foundation Studies: 14 semester credit hours
  • HLTH 1100 Career Explorations for the Health Professions
  • HLTH 3101 Medical Terminology
  • HLTH 3300 Pre-Health Professional Development
  • HLTH 3305 The U.S. Healthcare System
  • HLTH 3315 Issues in Patient Education
  • HLTH 4304 Health Professions Internship
• Foundation III: Multidisciplinary Healthcare Studies: 15 semester credit hours
  • Required (3 semester credit hours):
    • BIS 3320 The Nature of Intellectual Inquiry
  • Required (3 semester credit hours from the following):
    • HLTH 3301 Issues in Geriatric Healthcare
    • HLTH 4305 Public Health
    • HLTH 4380 Special Topics in Healthcare
  • Required (3 semester credit hours from the following):
    • PSY 4328 Health Psychology
    • PSY 4343 Abnormal Psychology
  • And choose 6 semester credit hours from among the following courses:
    • ECON 3330 Economics of Health
    • GEOG 3357 Spatial Dimensions of Health and Disease
    • HLTH 3310 Health Care Issues: Global Perspectives
    • HMGT 3301 Introduction to Healthcare Management
    • HLTH 3306 Gender in Healthcare
    • PHIL 3328 History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine
    • PHIL 3320 Medical Ethics
    • PHIL 4321 Philosophy of Medicine
    • SOC 4371 Mental Health and Illness
    • SOC 4372 Health and Illness

Guided Elective Requirements

• Required for all freshmen: 1 semester credit hour
  • UNIV 1010 Freshman Seminar
  • BIS 1100 Interdisciplinary Studies Freshman Seminar
• Guided Electives: 25 or 33 semester credit hours
  • Students interested in pursuing entrance into health professional fields should seek advising on additional courses required for entrance into the particular professional school of their interest.
  • A subset of the following courses should be considered essential and should be taken as part of their elective credits:
    • BIOL 2281 Introductory Biology Laboratory
    • BIOL 3301 Classical and Molecular Genetics
    • BIOL 3101 Classical and Molecular Genetics Workshop
    • BIOL 3302 Eukaryotic Molecular and Cell Biology
    • BIOL 3102 Eukaryotic Molecular and Cell Biology Workshop
    • BIOL 3361 or CHEM 3361 Biochemistry I
    • BIOL 3161 Biochemistry Workshop I
    • BIOL 3362 or CHEM 3362 Biochemistry II
    • BIOL 3162 Biochemistry Workshop II
    • BIOL 3455 Human Anatomy and Physiology with Lab I
    • BIOL 3456 Human Anatomy and Physiology with Lab II
    • BIOL 3520 General Microbiology with Lab
    • BIOL 3370 Exercise Physiology
    • BIOL 4310 Cellular Microbiology
    • BIOL 4345 Immunobiology
    • BIOL 4350 Medical Microbiology
    • BIOL 4V40 Special Topics in Molecular and Cell Biology
    • HLTH 1301 Introduction to Kinesiology
    • HLTH 1322 Human Nutrition
    • HLTH 3306 Gender in Healthcare
    • HLTH 4306 Health and Sport
    • HLTH 4307 Climate Change in Healthcare
    • HLTH 4V01 Health Professions Independent Study
    • ISIS 3309 Dental Anthropology
    • ISIS 4V89 Special Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies
    • NSC 3361 Introduction to Neuroscience
    • NSC 4366 Neuroanatomy
    • NSC 4351 Medical Neuroscience

IS Policy on Healthcare Studies Change of Major

All students wishing to change majors to IS Healthcare Studies after enrollment should carefully consider the consequences of excessive hours and time to degree completion.

• Change of Major Application Minimum requirements:
  • Applicant must have a cumulative UT Dallas GPA of 2.5.
  • Applicant must have no grade lower than a C- in a science course.