Is there a doctor in the house?
Missouri S&T graduates have a 75 percent placement in pre-med programs, compared to a national average of 44 percent. These influential Miners have changed the face of medicine today by becoming doctors or improving health through scientific breakthroughs.

 • Harold "Skip" Garner, NucE'76, was enticed by the Human Genome Project in the 1980s to investigate the intersection of physics and biology. By the mid-1990s, Garner had created technologies to speed DNA sequencing, analysis and interpretation. His work resulted in technologies that have accelerated the understanding of our genome, and resulted in several successful companies which have advanced biomedical research and clinical operations. Today, Garner directs the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. The lab is dedicated to the invention of new technologies, especially computational biology, bioinformatics, high throughput methods and interpretative biology for health, medicine and security.

 • Jorge Ochoa, ME'85, principal engineer in the biomedical engineering practice of Exponent, an engineering and scientific consulting firm, knows how human joints work and finds ways to fix them when they don't. Ochoa specializes in product development for medical devices, from conceptual design to market readiness. His specific expertise is in the design of implantable devices and surgical instruments and techniques, as well as biomechanics, engineering biomaterials and pre-clinical testing strategy. Ochoa holds 11 patents in orthopaedic technology.

 • Dennis R. Parker, ChE'68, is a retired vice president for safety, health and environmental affairs at Conoco. He is an international speaker and advocate for environmental education, process safety and medical safety. He serves on the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center Executive Advisory Forum. Parker is past chair of the American Petroleum Institute's Health, Safety and Environmental Committee and has served on the board of The Keystone Institute.

 • Paul Stricker, LSci'82, is a physician specializing in pediatric sports medicine and was the first pediatrician to be selected to serve as a physician for the U.S. delegation at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He is the author of the book Sports Success Rx! Your Child’s Prescription for the Best Experience, which aims to make youth sports healthy, safe and fun.

 • Richard K. Vitek, MS Chem'58, retired founder and CEO of FOTODYNE Inc., used his expertise in thin-layer chromatography and electrophoresis to produce equipment for the separation, ultraviolet visualization and analysis of DNA. Vitek also developed a new methodology for arsenic testing in food products after finding flaws in previous methods. His work resulted in EPA guidelines for wineries and vineyards for the elimination of arsenic-based pesticides and fungicides.

 • Jonathan Waters, Phys'81, is chief of anesthesia services at Magee Women's Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Magee is one of the first hospitals recognized as a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Waters' expertise includes transfusion management, fluid resuscitation and acid-base theory. He holds faculty appointments at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and in the Swanson School of Engineering's bioengineering department.