Preparing students to be health care leaders
The Â鶹´«Ã½'s Westbrook College of Health Professions prepares students to be leaders in their health care fields.
Â鶹´«Ã½is one of a handful of private universities with a comprehensive health education mission including medicine, pharmacy, dental medicine, nursing and an array of allied health professions. The Westbrook College of Health Professions encompasses Applied Exercise Science, Athletic Training, Dental Hygiene, Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia, Nutrition, Occupational Studies, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Public Health, and Social Work.
Guided by faculty on the cutting edge of their disciplines, our students participate in clinical simulations, service learning activities, clinical rotations and other experiences that enable them to transition smoothly into the workforce upon graduation.
Our interprofessional education initiatives prepare future health care professionals to practice comprehensive and collaborative team-based care. Students from across our different health professions programs work beside one another as they treat patients, participate in simulations and conduct research. As a result, each student comes to better appreciate the roles played by the other members of the health care team.
Our Portland Campus for the Health Sciences is just minutes from Maine's leading hospitals and clinics, providing rich opportunities for students to carry the knowledge they gain on campus into the field. People from across Northern New England travel to Portland for medical services, and often their needs are met by Â鶹´«Ã½students.
Gregory Blackman ’20
Why UNE
[UNE’s Physician Assistant program is] on this uphill progression of being built and built even though it's been around for a long time. It's had really great numbers. The board pass rate is above the national average, which speaks to the reliability of the program and the quality of education. That’s important to me.
Â鶹´«Ã½is unique in many inspiring ways. The Portland Campus for the Health Sciences is a great place. The idea that you are here with other graduate students but also other health professionals on a campus of your own has a special way of fostering interprofessional work and development. There's a heavy reliability. Everyone works very hard. As a student, you have daily opportunities for interactions with other professions, which I love a lot. It's being able to go to those other professions and ask them for their opinion to get that angle of expertise. It gives you a broader view on things and a better connection.
Interprofessional Education
Other students in my program worked in the ER, or were paramedics, military medics, or respiratory therapists. I was an athletic trainer in the ER. All of these people come together here in the PA program, bringing along their various different backgrounds of medicine. Then we all have the opportunity to combine our knowledge and help each other. I have my areas of strength, but there are a lot of other areas that I have just barely even learned about. This collaborative feel fosters our classes.
It’s unique to have all these different views and be able to learn from your classmates while also learning from the faculty. It's almost like it's interprofessional within your profession, which is very cool.
The idea that you are here with other graduate students but also other health professionals on a campus of your own has a special way of fostering interprofessional work and development.
The Â鶹´«Ã½Portland Campus for the Health Sciences
For decades, UNE’s Portland Campus has been home to many of the University’s health professions programs including PA, PT, OT, pharmacy, nursing, dental medicine, and more. In 2025, UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will move from the Biddeford Campus into the new Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences in Portland. By bringing our health professions programs together into one interprofessional learning community, we will establish UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences as the center of health care education in Northern New England.
Learn about exciting changes on UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences
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NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT
The Â鶹´«Ã½ does not discriminate in admissions or access to, or treatment in, its programs and activities on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, veteran status, or disabling conditions in violation of federal or state civil rights laws of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.