Physician’s Legacy to Teach Continues at UNLV

Ronald Oseas is once again providing hands-on medical education to students in Las Vegas. His wife, Sharon, made sure of that during the summer of 2004, nearly two years after he died unexpectedly. Knowing his fondness for students and his zest for learning, she donated three major medical instruments from his Las Vegas pediatric hematology and oncology practice to the College of Sciences. 

Today, students using the equipment will perform tests to determine white and red blood cell counts and hemoglobin levels as well as glucose and cholesterol measurements. Oseas also donated supplies that go with the instruments and made a teaching microscope available to the biology and chemistry departments. 

Jan Klaassen, director of the Clinical Laboratory Sciences program, says that the new equipment allows students and faculty to perform the laboratory testing for their research on campus rather than sending it out to local labs at higher costs. UNLV offers a B.S. in clinical laboratory sciences (also known as medical technology), and graduates often go on to professional medical or dental schools or begin work immediately in public health, forensic sciences, or molecular biology. Klaassen says the gift-in-kind allows students the opportunity to work with automated equipment and gives them an edge in their careers.

Oseas says her husband always enjoyed the opportunity to work with residents and interns and, as a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, was passionate about children’s opportunities to become healthy, successful adults. “He loved practicing medicine. He loved teaching medicine. He felt it was his obligation to educate future generations,” shares Oseas.