Alumni Profile: Gabriel McConkey
As a student in JSC's Wellness and Alternative Medicine (WAM) Program, Gabriel McConkey appreciated the hands-on research opportunities that now will serve him well in graduate school.
As a WAM student, "I always felt that there were opportunities waiting
around every corner," Gabe said. "The information in the courses I attended was new
and explorative, and there was always a high level of involvement with
other students both during and after class. I was able to gain valuable
professional experience by attending research-based conferences that
were on the cutting edge of integrative medicine."
In 2009, for instance, Gabe and six other JSC students attended the Scripps Conference in Natural Supplements.
"We had the opportunity to present our research on undergraduate curricula for the study of natural supplements," he said. "As a result of the detailed and comprehensive curriculm we presented, we were published the 2009 Journal of Alternative and Complementary medicine."
Gabe now hopes to apply what he learned as a undergraduate student researcher to more intensive research studies in graduate school; he is interested in epigenetics, biology and functional medicine.
