Health Professions Advising
Students interested in being a health care provider have many choices of what venue in which to practice. Health professions advising at Wheaton focuses on supporting students interested in pursuing one of the health professions after graduation.
Advisors guide students along their path toward the health professions, both academically and experientially. Students receive information on the many career options available in the health care fields and are advised on the preparation of a competitive applicant portfolio and on all aspects of the application process.
All students who are considering a career in the health professions should contact Dean Alex Trayford in Kollett Hall as soon as possible. Call 508.286.8215 to make an appointment.
The Meaning of the Rod of Asclepius
The Rod of Asclepius is one of the symbols of the medical profession. Asclepius was a physician who may have practiced the healing arts in Greece as far back as 1200 BC. He is even mentioned by Homer in the Iliad. Asclepius was taught the healing arts by the wise centaur, Chiron. He became so adept that it was said he could even bring the dead back to life. Over time, Asclepius came to be regarded as the god of healing, and was widely worshipped in the Greek, and later Roman, world. As medical schools developed in the Classical world, they were often connected to temples or shrines called Asclepions, dedicated to Asclepius.
The staff of Asclepius is a single serpent encircling a tree limb. Asclepius is traditionally depicted as a bearded man holding a staff with his sacred single serpent coiled around it. The snake symbolizes renewal because the serpent casts off its skin.
From the early 16th century onwards, the staff of Asclepius was widely used as printers marks, especially as frontispieces of medical-related books in the 17th and 18th centuries. Over time, the rod and serpent (the Asclepian staff) emerged as an independent symbol of medicine.