Jane Kring

I am a human biologist. I received my B.S. in Biology from SUNY Binghamton University, where I minored in Chemistry. I earned my MD from SUNY Upstate Medical University, where I spent 9 months in the RMED elective in the Canton Potsdam area. I started my Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency at East Carolina University, but ultimately decided to leave medicine to pursue teaching. I earned a teaching certificate through East Carolina University’s Alternative Licensure program while teaching high school and community college science courses.

In the Biology department, I teach Anatomy & Physiology I & II labs. Each week in lab we start with a student talking points presentation about a disease or condition that relates to the body system we’re covering.  Beyond that every lab is different.  Over the course of the year during A&P labs students learn some basic physical exam skills, complete physiology experiments, analyze cases or problems like cardiac rhythms or descriptions of why someone is short of breath, dissect organs and full anatomical specimens, and spend time understanding and looking at the microanatomy or histology of organs. I love teaching these labs, and learning and sharing knowledge about the human body.

I also teach Health Coaches I & II and Foundations of Medicine I & II. Health Coaches I is a CBL (Community Based Learning) course that teaches students rapport building, and motivational interviewing skills to prepare students to use these with their very own patient in Health Coaches II. We have a lot of guest lecturers during Health Coaches I with a variety of perspectives from working in health care.  Foundations of Medicine I is an MCAT prep and strategy course. Foundations of Medicine II is an application prep course for predominantly pre-medical students (although students from other health professions have participated as well). I enjoy teaching these courses and the role of communications/MCAT coach assigning content and providing encouragement as students build skills and expertise.

I really enjoy working with pre-health students to maximize their application to professional schools. I am very excited to be co-chairing the Pre-Health Program and Health Careers Committee with Dr. Kari Heckman, RD, PhD. We started a Pre-Health Mentoring Program this fall for incoming students that I enjoyed. I am a member of NEAAHP and NAAHP.

My research students typically work with health care professionals and complete research projects about aspects of health and/or health care delivery.

New projects I’m working on include the Mindset of Healthy Living workshop at the St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility (once visitors are allowed again) and an Alternative Stay-cation Spring Break trip which includes 3 days of shadowing health care professionals associated with Claxton Hepburn Medical Center and a week of service to vulnerable populations in St. Lawrence County.