Learn More About Island Pre-Health

The Island Pre-Health Science program is structured as a 3-year program, where students who successfully complete all three years will earn an Associate of Science Degree in Pre-Health Science and an Advanced Diploma in Pre-Health Science.

Students will begin this program by completing a required orientation session prior to the start of their first semester. Included in this, is an Indigenous Cultural Safety course, as well as a lab prep module that the Math-Science department created to teach ‘lab fundamentals,’ and a distinct team-building exercise. With the latter, the goal is to support the creation of community learning ethos that will carry students through to program completion. The purpose of the Indigenous Cultural Safety course is to introduce students early on to the cultural biases and racism that exists against Indigenous people, promote decolonization as epistemology, and allow for the development of a holistic approach and understanding of health care and health science.

A unique feature of this program are the Island Pre-Health Science courses (worth 1.5 to 3 credits each) taken each fall and winter semester, totalling 3 credits annually. This is an integral part of the program where students learn about all aspects of health science, health science in their community, and the realities of advancing a career in the health sciences on Vancouver Island. It is important for the students to see themselves as community member, to learn about the Indigenous communities in this region, writ large, and to learn directly from community members already working within this sector. The above learning outcomes will be facilitated by a combination of guest lectures, field trips and knowledge sharing and will shall culminate in an applied-research project.