Biotechnology and Medical Sciences
The Mercy High School Biotechnology and Medical Sciences Pathway Program introduces students to the field of biotechnology and provides them with tools to gain relevant experience and confidence in their skills as they build resiliency in problem solving. Biotechnology combines biology and technology. Modern biotechnology is a fast evolving field that can be broken into five branches—human, animal, plant, environmental, and industrial—and that is focused on changing our world in profound ways. The biotechnology industry spans from helping to fight hunger to saving energy to reducing our ecological footprint and so much more.
Relation to Girls' Education
At the highest level of biotechnology companies, women are missing. And it is time to change that.
More women than men attend college, study biology at graduate and undergraduate studies and more than half of Bio PhDs are earned by women; yet women are still missing at the leadership level.
Though women make up 47% of total employees at biotech companies headquartered across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, only 31% of executive teams and 23% of CEOs at the companies surveyed are women.
Female leadership in biotechnology is needed, and Mercy is committed to offering young women the education, tools, and preparation necessary to give them the confidence to explore and thrive in the field of biotechnology.
Relevance to Today’s World
In September of 2022, the White House hosted a summit on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing with the goal of advancing President Biden’s Executive Order to launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative “to lower prices, create good jobs, strengthen supply chains, improve health outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions.” With over $2 billion dollars of funding committed, the future of biotechnology is necessary and promising and in need of women’s voices.
Relevant Courses
AP Biology
Forensic Biology
AP Chemistry
Physics / Honors Physics / AP Physics
Anatomy and Physiology / Honors A&P
Medical Interventions / Honors MI
AP Environmental Science
Statistics / AP Statistics
Precalculus / AP Precalculus
Calculus
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Computer Science A
AP Seminar
AP Research
Mercy Activities
Robotics
Mercy Medical Club
Women in STEM
Red Cross Club
G.L.O.B.E.
Sample Careers
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Genetic Counselor
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Chemical Engineer
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Biochemist
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Microbiologist
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Environmental Scientist
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Agriculture and Food Scientist