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Philiatros
Dedicated to Serving Others
What is Philiatros?
Philiatros means "love of science". We are an organization of Oklahoma Christian students who are interested in careers in the biomedical and health care fields. Students of any major are welcome to join. Our meetings consist of guest speakers, including physicians of varying specialty, professionals such as optometrists or pharmacists, researchers from many biomedical fields, and representatives of graduate and professional schools in the region.
The Mission of Philiatros
Our mission is to provide all those on the Oklahoma Christian University campus who are interested in the biomedical sciences a place to interact with each other and with members of the professional medical community.
Why Philiatros?
- Career Decisions
Being a member of Philiatros provides you with many opportunities to meet people who can guide you as you determine what to do with your science degree. Each week's meeting features a guest speaker. Some weeks a health professional from the community comes and discusses the details about their profession. At other times the group hears from an expert on admissions to graduate or professional school. Among those professions recently represented are both osteopathic and allopathic medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and optometry. The officers also strive to find physicians of varying specialties to give Philiatros members a wide exposure to the possibilities of graduating with a science degree.
- Experience
Involvement in a healthcare careers club is something that many graduate schools are now specifically looking for on an application. If you are planning on attending a graduate or professional school of any type, this is a club that you should become actively involved in. Admissions committees are looking for signs of commitment as well; in other words, it is best to get involved early in your undergraduate career.
- Fellowship
One of the best things about Philiatros is the opportunity to get to know other students who have the same career aspirations as you. Most of the members are science majors who want to one day make their way into biomedical research or clinical sciences. The officers and other upperclassmen are willing to give advice and relate their experiences with the MCAT and other tests, as well as with applications.
- Service
Finally, the root of Philiatros is serving God by ministering to others. While the weekly meetings will help to prepare you for future service, you should never forget that the habits you form now will last a lifetime. In light of that, Philiatros strives to find ways to serve the community around us, both on- and off-campus.
Faculty Facts
Dr. Mike Gipson, Professor of Biology, has won two Templeton Foundation Grants for conference at Oxford and a Mellon Foundation Grant for study at Rice. He has published articles in the Journal of College Science Teaching and the Journal of Research in Science Technology. Dr. Gipson has also given research presentations at national and international conferences for twenty-six consecutive years.
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