First Rockhurst Trip to Bologna Center Opens Eyes to Global Health

When Rockhurst University announced a strategic partnership with fellow Jesuit institution Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, in March 2025, it opened up numerous opportunities for students at both institutions.

Taking select courses not offered at their home institution was one. Another was the possibility of studying at Spring Hill College's Italy Center in Bologna, Italy. This summer, one group of students from Rockhurst University became the first to take advantage of the facility, located in a cultural capital and near one of the world's oldest universities.

Hana Bytyqi, junior biochemistry major and pre-medical student, said studying abroad is an amazing opportunity to learn about a different culture and grow closer to students she didn't now beforehand.

"It's just like a full-body sensory experience. Every day I woke up was overjoyed to be there," she said.

It was about more than the cultural aspects. Over the course of two weeks, the One Health initiative summer experience immersed this group of students in a perspective on healthcare that treats human, animal and environmental health as intrinsically linked. Annie Lee, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and organizer of the trip, said during the experience students were able to explore all three aspects firsthand, visiting hospitals, veterinary sites, human service organizations and disease research labs, to name a few.

Talking and making connections with researchers, faculty, animal health experts and surgeons made the trip one that Bytyqi said she will never forget.

"Every single day we got to do something new," she said. "The biggest thing for me was watching the surgeries, because that's something I want to do. I was texting the group chat and asking if I could stay until the end."

As a student at Rockhurst, Bytyqi said she has at times struggled with the value of her lab courses. Seeing those techniques in action in research labs studying diseases, it all clicked for her. Following medical school, Bytyqi hopes to practice in Kosovo, from which both of her parents fled as refugees in the 1990s and where deaths from cardiovascular disease are very common. She came away from the One Health experience with a renewed sense that she not only could, but should, use her medical degree to make a difference. And with even more confidence in her path.

"I got back and I thought, 'I'm going to do this. There's just no ifs, ands, or buts about it,'" she said. "Being able to experience that was just something so inspiring as I pursue my career to the fullest. I have no other doubt in my mind that I want to be a surgeon and work in healthcare."

Lee said it's the kind of transformation and perspective-broadening that is always the hope of study abroad programs, and it's particularly powerful for students to see the healthcare system of another country firsthand.

"They need to be able to look critically at systems," she said. "But also, you do not get the sense of the place until you've lived there and actually spoken to the people and learned a little bit about what they are passionate about or what they are worried about. These students might have wanted to go because it was a trip to Italy, but I think they came away thinking about how to look at patients differently and thinking about how we do things here and how we can do them better."

Lee said it is the first of what promises to be many trips to Bologna through the Spring Hill College partnership. In the fall, nursing students will take part in a capstone experience at the site.