Prehealth Advisor: Carolyn Zook

Graduates of Lewis & Clark College enter a wide range of fields in the health professions, including medicine, dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, medical technology, physical therapy, and public health.

The liberal arts education at Lewis & Clark prepares students to enter these health professions with a well-rounded education that integrates the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Lewis & Clark graduates have gone on to study at health professional schools such as Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Harvard University, Wake Forest University, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Johns Hopkins University.

Lewis & Clark supports every student in achieving their goals through premed and prehealth advising, the health studies minor, and the Center for Community and Global Health. Lewis & Clark advisors guide students with coaching, feedback, and one-on-one mentorship. The health studies minor brings a liberal arts approach to solving the world’s current and future public health challenges through coursework, internship experiences, and scholarly activity across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Both prehealth advising and the health studies minor are housed within the Center for Community and Global Health, which also offers hands-on, interactive, and developmental workshops and events. Center programming leads students to discover the health professional landscape through panels, networking, internships, volunteering, and mentoring.

Although many premed/prehealth students major in biology, biochemistry, or chemistry, students can enter graduate programs in the health professions with any undergraduate major. Professional health care programs seek well-rounded students with a diversity of interests, leadership experiences, and intellectual curiosity.

Students who plan to pursue postgraduate work in the health professions will take required courses in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and psychology at Lewis & Clark. Many health-professional schools require advanced coursework in some of these areas as well. Many courses required for admission to health-professional schools are sequential, so good planning is key. Consult early with an academic advisor and the Center for Community and Global Health’s prehealth advisor and get started planning your pathway to a career in health.

Prehealth Advising

For students who are just beginning to explore the health professions, and for those who know exactly where they’re heading, prehealth advising is here to offer support and guidance.

Prehealth advising helps Lewis & Clark students—current, prospective, and alumni—explore possible pathways to health careers and develop a plan to get there. Housed in the Center for Community and Global Health, prehealth advising offers support and guidance for every stage of the journey through coaching, feedback, and one-on-one advising. Students will also learn from the community through hands-on, interactive, and developmental workshops and events and explore the professional landscape through panels, networking, and mentoring.

Meet your prehealth advisor at the Center for Community and Global Health. 

Center for Community and Global Health

At Lewis & Clark, we believe the liberal arts and sciences provide an ideal foundation for health-related careers, and that the intersection of science and story is a powerful place for healing. The Center for Community and Global Health brings together the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; these broader perspectives give us a greater appreciation for healing in many forms—from the physical to the social and systemic—and how health connects to each of these. We offer prehealth and premed advising, coursework, internship experiences, community collaborations, storytelling, and scholarly activities to Lewis & Clark students with an interest in health and healing.