ACPHS In The News


Soaking it In, Under the Sun

Incoming students on the green in front of the library during Kick Start 2024
August 22, 2024

If you took the wide-angle view of campus in the summer, you’d see a quieter place moving at a slower pace. 

But if you knew where to focus your gaze any particular week, you’d see the activity never stopped.

Summer 2024 featured training for students of all ages – from middle-school students learning how to make medicine to well-established professionals learning how to market their medical innovations. Potential Panthers visited, and so did state health officials. Current students were here, too, taking the opportunity to delve into research or add an experience to their resumes.

Educational enrichment programs included the Making of Medicine in August, a three-day STEM camp for rising seventh and graders; students participated in team-based, hands-on projects focused on the development of medicines from medicinal plants to modern therapies. High school students were here in July for Panther Pathways to Healthcare Careers, a three-day exploration of the many ways one can be a health care leader – and how to get there. On July 16, ACPHS also hosted MASH Camp – that’s the Medical Academy of Science & Health for high school students. Our campus was one of four sites in the Capital Region and Adirondacks to host the full day of career exploration. 

In June, the Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training (CBET) hosted the NIIMBL eXperience for the second consecutive year. A dozen first- and second-year college students stayed on campus for a week, getting hands-on laboratory experience at the area’s academic research centers and biopharmaceutical companies. There was even a one-day trip to Boston to explore industry facilities there. The program from the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals seeks to expose minority students to a burgeoning field.

CBET, in partnership with Albany Med Health System, also provided training to inventors through its Bioinnovation Bootcamp, which provided resources and expertise to science-minded participants about how to get their medical and pharmaceutical products to market. The eight-week program culminated in a "Pitch Night" on May 30, in which participants competed for prizes to support the development of their ideas. 

ACPHS also, of course, played host on July 20 to students curious about joining us and to new incoming students during Kick Start. The campus opened its track and grounds to the community for the Ronald McDonald House 5K Fun Run & Birthday Bash on June 15; the event raised funds to support families with children in the hospital.

Special guests visited The Collaboratory in July. State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald, Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eugene Heslin and DOH Fellow Sarah Snyder ’21 learned about the public health services The Collaboratory provides in the South End.

ACPHS students were also here working in laboratories or as campus ambassadors, finishing their theses and starting clinical rotations that will culminate in their pharmacy doctorates.