From Locker Room to Lab: Connecting Sports and Science
By Office of the President | Oct 7, 2025
The Office for Institutional Equity launched the fourth cohort of the Brooklyn Scholar-Athletes with Academic Goals (BK-SWAG) program, a four-week summer initiative established in 2021 to help high school students channel their passion for sports into careers in healthcare.
This year, 19 students from across New York City explored the health sciences through clinical shadowing, service learning, and interactive workshops led by Downstate’s faculty, graduate students, and community partners. Alongside Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation-Automated External Defibrillator (CPR-AED) certification and community service, participants tackled topics ranging from sports psychology and nutrition to radiology, emergency medicine, and artificial intelligence in healthcare.
Program highlights included virtual reality medic training, college tours, financial literacy workshops, and a BioBAT hackathon, where students pitched innovative solutions to health disparities. The winning team, AlgaClean, designed a dialysis machine powered by genetically engineered algae. Our partners at the NYU Department of Physical Therapy and the NYU Department of Food and Nutrition Science provided an interactive laboratory workshop on physical therapy research and nutrition in the lives of athletes and students.
BK-SWAG culminated in student-led research projects and fact sheets connecting athletic health conditions, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in football and renal disorders in gymnastics, and broader health equity issues. Downstate alum Dr. Sean Thomas, DPT’11, returned as the symposium’s closing speaker, encouraging students to continue pursuing healthcare pathways.
The program thrived under the leadership of graduate student mentors Mahum Fatima, Gelila Hawthorne, Justin Lee, and Mohamed Doucoure, whose energy created what one participant described as “a creative, competitive, and fun-filled learning environment.”
BK-SWAG gave students more than knowledge. It gave them swag: the style, confidence, and skills to carry themselves like future healthcare leaders. With every workshop, lab, and pitch session, they showed that the drive that fuels athletes can just as powerfully fuel scientists, clinicians, and changemakers.
Special thanks to program leaders, Carla Boutin-Foster, M.D., MS, Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Associate Dean for Diversity Education and Research; Shemeika Bowman, Assistant Director and Bridges to Medicine Coordinator; and Diedreanna Martin, Coordinator for Diversity and Equity Initiatives, along with the Downstate community, for their dedication to shaping the next generation of clinicians and scientists.
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