The Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) is made up of faculty and staff from a variety of backgrounds who help students prepare to apply to graduate-level health professions programs.

Most medical, dental, and optometry schools require that a committee letter of recommendation from the home institution accompany a student’s application for admission. To seek such endorsement students must provide the Health Professions Advisory Committee with a dossier including four or five letters of recommendation (two from science faculty) by February 15 of the calendar prior to the year in which they would commence their program (16-18 months prior to entry).

Current committee members

Jessica Alber, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences & the Ryan Institute for Neuroscience
E-mail: jalber@uri.edu | Webpage

Alana Bibeau
Teaching Professor of Sociology; Sociology Advisor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
E-mail: abibeau@uri.edu | Webpage

Jodi Camberg, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
E-mail: cambergj@uri.edu | Webpage

Aura Fajardo Grandidge
Assistant Dean for Diversity & Student Success Initiatives
College of the Environment and Life Sciences
E-mail: afgrandidge@uri.edu | Webpage

Matthew Kiesewetter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
E-mail: mkiesewetter@uri.edu | Webpage

Jason Kolbe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
E-mail: jkolbe@uri.edu | Webpage

Andrea A. Rusnock
Professor
Department of History
E-mail: rusnock@uri.edu | Webpage

Melissa Sutherland, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN, RN
Professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs
College of Nursing
E-mail: masutherland@uri.edu | Webpage

Christie Ward-Ritacco, Ph.D., FACSM
Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
Department of Kinesiology
E-mail: christieward@uri.edu | Webpage