LECOM Shapes the Future of Medical Education through Anatomy Outreach If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. ~Margaret Fuller
Over the past months, Dr. Randy Kulesza has held Anatomy Outreach programs that have brought nearly 200 high school and college students to the LECOM Erie anatomy lab for educational projects. Dr. Kulesza is Director of the Auditory Research Center and Associate Professor of Anatomy at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a graduate of Gannon University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Dr. Kulesza earned his Ph.D. at West Virginia University in Anatomy and Neuroscience. His deep love of science fuels his desire to encourage young men and women to explore the sciences with the hope that tomorrow’s medical and health care professionals may find inspiration for their love of learning at LECOM. There is a great value and power in igniting a spark of knowledge; it is a catalyst for prodigious accomplishment and it presents an opportunity for many students to investigate an area in which they may possess interest, but previously have not had exposure. Dr. Kulesza has been working with local high schools and colleges to encourage that interest in science and to facilitate exposure to the discipline. Students from Edinboro University, McDowell, Fort LeBoeuf, Harborcreek, and General McLane high schools as well as the Great Lakes Institute of Technology participated in the Anatomy Outreach sessions. This important educational experience helps to attract students to the sciences and it familiarizes them with the abundant educational opportunities available for them at LECOM. Students shadow instructors, undertake rigorous assignments in the field, and learn about key elements in their area of interest. Dr. Kulesza’s Anatomy Outreach has generated considerable response,
Randy Kulesza, PhD visits General McLane High School biology class.
when, in December and January, LECOM welcomed a bevy of Erie Area students to the LECOM anatomy lab. As a result of integrated programs such as Anatomy Outreach, General McLane High School has developed a Science Academy program through which the school has been working closely with LECOM. The Academy of Arts and Engineering at General McLane was created in order to better prepare students for careers in medicine and engineering. Through partnerships with organizations and universities such as LECOM, Academy classes are enriched with practical and real-world application to sciencerelated activities.
Outreach assists students in organizing their knowledge now, to plan their life for tomorrow. Bringing awareness and enlightenment to high school and college students potentially interested in the sciences builds the foundation of the future of scientific and medical exploration and training. LECOM takes profound satisfaction in the fact that the student whose interest is piqued today may be the ground-breaking researcher or skilled surgeon of the future.
Programs such as Anatomy Outreach comprise an important part of the LECOM mission of superlative education coupled with focused community service. Through the ages, philosophers have explained that science is organized knowledge, while wisdom is organized life. Anatomy lecom.edu | winter 2013 | lecom connection 11