Credit: Nick Romanenko

Natasha Ramsey is taking a course through ODASIS to prepare for the Medical College Admission Test.

Two words can chill the heart of an undergraduate science student: organic chemistry. That notoriously difficult course has been responsible for dashing many career dreams.

Natasha Ramsey, a junior from New Brunswick, survived organic chemistry. Yet she believes her hopes to become a medical doctor and researcher might have ended with that class if she hadn’t been part of the Office for Diversity and Academic Success in the Sciences (ODASIS), a Rutgers program dedicated to helping underrepresented students achieve.

ODASIS, in the university’s Division of Life Sciences provides educational support to underrepresented and disadvantaged students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.     

Students in the program are accepted to Rutgers under the same admissions criteria as other students.These students are then recruited by ODASIS or learn about the various programs and request to become participants. In addition to regular coursework, ODASIS students  have mandatory academic support sessions, study halls, homework, and testing. They also meet with program advisors every two weeks to review their progress, discuss study skills, and develop plans for action. 

It’s a rigorous schedule, but one that shows great success. Among the ODASIS students graduating from Rutgers in 2009, 50 out of 58 were accepted into medical schools (23 students) or other health professional schools, such as dentistry, osteopathy, podiatry, nursing, and graduate biomedical sciences (27 students).

ODASIS concentrates on increasing the number of underrepresented students in medical and professional schools, a disparity that affects quality of care. A just-released study in the journal Academic Medicine found that although more than one-third of the U.S. population is African American, Hispanic, or Native American, only 8.7% of doctors come from those groups.  

The program helps students with math, chemistry, biology, genetics, statistics, and more by collaborating with the respective academic and student service departments within Rutgers. “I would not have made it through organic chemistry without ODASIS,” Ramsey says. She and others in the program even study together in an informal group. “A lot of kids don’t do well in their classes because they try to do it all alone,” she says.

Students with a 3.4 GPA may take a course to prepare for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) or Dental Admission Test (DAT). Ramsey is currently in the MCAT class. ODASIS also has summer programs and connects students to enrichment opportunities at institutions such as the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey Medical School, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.  

“The key to ODASIS is nurturing,” says Kamal Khan, associate director. The program doesn’t coddle students; it prepares them for the competitiveness of scientific fields. “By showing them avenues to success, you’re helping them mature,” he says. 

ODASIS began through the efforts of Francine Essien, a Rutgers professor of cell biology and neuroscience, who won the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year for Research and Doctoral Universities in 1994. Essien, who is African American, wanted to improve the science success of underrepresented, women, and economically disadvantaged students.  

Recalling those early days, Khan says, “There were no students getting into medical schools from Rutgers who were African American or Hispanic.” In 1986, the fledgling program graduated its first student to be accepted at medical school; he became a radiologist. Since then, “not one ODASIS student has failed out of medical or dental school,” says Khan. “They put the time in and they learn how to study, no matter where they come from.”  

The “where” includes Camden, Newark, New Brunswick (the program has classes for high-school students there), Paterson, Piscataway, Union, and beyond. Most participants are African American or Hispanic/Latino, but there are also Asians and Caucasians (comprising about 15% of graduating seniors). “Any student who wants to come in – “if they’re ready to commit to the rules” – is welcome, Khan says.  

That commitment isn’t easy. ODASIS students must abide by rigorous attendance and participation requirements or they will be out. “The program is very strictly run,” says Diana Martin, director of General Biology, a two-semester sequence for students who plan to major in the life sciences. Martin has taught many first-year ODASIS students in her introductory biology course. “Kamal Khan is well-known for calling students at 5 a.m. if they haven’t been showing up for things they’re supposed to do,” Martin says.  

Such attention helps develop academic focus. “Any time ODASIS students take an exam and I compare their performance to the rest of the class, as a group, they outperform the other students,” Martin says. “And these were students who were identified as being at-risk.”  

Because of its success at Rutgers, ODASIS was chosen by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) as one of just four programs in a pilot project, AspiringDocs.org, designed to increase much-needed underrepresented enrollment in medical schools. In 2009, ODASIS was cited by AAMC president and chief executive officer Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., for its “invaluable contributions” to the development of that campaign and website.  

Building such connections is important for ODASIS, but even more so for its graduates. As part of the AAMC project, ODASIS staff attended professional meetings around the country. While at Harvard Medical School, Khan talked up the talented ODASIS students at Rutgers. The result? “Last year, our first student got into Harvard,” he says.  

When Harvard administrators complimented the student’s ability, Khan responded, “Thanks – we have many more!” And so, this year, Harvard has interviewed four ODASIS students for its next medical school class. They will hear the results in mid-March.