Covista Meets New Milestone with 400k Alumni, 100K Students and 28K Graduates in 2026
As America's largest healthcare educator, Covista is supporting many of the people who power the country’s healthcare workforce. Across our five institutions, we've reached a new milestone with more than 400,000 alumni. We are educating 100,000 students and preparing 28,000 new graduates who are bringing critical care to hospitals, clinics, and communities across the country.*
Behind every number is a person: a nurse walking into a night shift, a physician opening a practice, a veterinarian building a specialty clinic from scratch. These numbers represent thousands of individual journeys. Here are a few of those stories—five recent Covista graduates who show what 400,000 alumni can do, one patient, one classroom, one community at a time.
Composing a new kind of healthcare curriculum
Dr. Norman Belleza is a 2022 graduate of the PhD in Education program at Walden University and currently serves as Associate Professor for the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Hawaii Pacific University.
At Walden, his research focused on understanding how people learn best in healthcare settings and the ways technology can enhance both teaching and patient care. Building on his years of experience as an educator, he developed innovative simulation-based projects—online healthcare escape rooms, interactive chart reviews and interprofessional modules—that let students practice teamwork, problem-solving and patient empathy in realistic settings. A musician at heart, Dr. Belleza found a new form of composition in simulation education: writing scenarios, preparing standardized patients and helping students practice difficult conversations.
That creative instinct continues to drive his research today, as he develops education modules for conferences and peer-reviewed publications shaping how future healthcare providers are trained. "I strive for my simulation curriculum to prepare future professionals medically for patient care and instill within them that what truly matters are the human connections we make," he said. "Education gives us the tools to do more than adapt; it gives us the courage to innovate, build community, and to find our own rhythm within the music of our professional journeys."
Opening the door to specialty care for pets
Missy Carpentier, DVM '11, DACVIM, always knew she'd become a veterinarian. Growing up in Boston, MA, she loved spending time with her pets and tagging along to their veterinary appointments. As a student at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, she narrowed her focus on neurology after taking an elective course in the specialty followed by a clinical year at the University of Minnesota. Around the same time, her own dog began having seizures—and managing her care turned an academic interest into a calling. Dr. Carpentier went on to design her training across both academic and private-practice settings, building a depth of clinical experience that would serve her well down the road.
After years at a large referral hospital, Dr. Carpentier realized that access to pet care was limited, particularly for specialty areas like neurology. "It was becoming more difficult to provide the immediate care I wanted for my patients," she said. Her solution was to open Minnesota's first sole-specialty neurology hospital. Minnesota Veterinary Neurology opened in the Twin Cities in September 2025, offering 24/7 care through a dedicated team and state-of-the-art facility.
Building the practice from scratch meant overseeing construction, staffing, HR and PR while continuing to practice medicine. But her hard work is paying off—a second neurologist has joined her team and she is planning to expand her business further across the Midwest.
Meeting a critical need with precision
Sandip Saha, MD '10, traces his path to medicine from a childhood memory of seeing a lone surgeon, still in surgical cap and mask at 2:00 a.m., asleep in a hospital cafeteria. Dr. Saha was 10 years old, waiting at Toronto General Hospital while his father underwent a quadruple bypass. The care his family received during that experience stuck with him, leading him to a core belief that medicine is more than science—it’s about connecting and helping people.
Dr. Saha studied to become a doctor at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and completed his residency at Wayne State University. He went on to pursue fellowships in pulmonary and critical care at Michigan State University and a fellowship in interventional pulmonology at Yale University School of Medicine, where he first learned about the crucial need for doctors trained in this specialty.
Today, Dr. Saha is head of the Interventional Pulmonology Department at Buffalo General Medical Center, where he built his team from the ground up—designing workflows, collaborating with anesthesiology colleagues and training endoscopy nurses. The work suits him. "It's the right mix of everything," he said. "I like working with my hands, being precise and methodical and thinking visually. The lungs are a dynamic, 3D space."
Championing the next generation of doctors
Martina Tripcovici, MD ‘22 is a graduate of Ross University School of Medicine and recently completed her residency in combined internal medicine and pediatrics in Detroit, MI, with a subspecialty focus in pulmonary and critical care medicine.
As a competitive junior tennis player, Dr. Tripcovici learned early what it took to compete and keep moving forward. That same drive now informs her work mentoring aspiring medical students—she's guided roughly 150 students and prospects through the medical school application process, helping them to build timelines, reviewing their personal statements and practicing mock interviews.
That effort recently earned her Ross University's Alumni Ambassador Award. "I've always enjoyed being involved with students who are considering Ross," she said. "It can be a complicated process. I try to help them prepare for whatever is coming."
Finding opportunity in caring for others
Rachell Dumas, BSN '16, once imagined a career behind the camera. That changed during a Georgia State University internship at Atlanta's Grady Hospital, where she shadowed a critical care nurse. She switched majors and enrolled at Chamberlain University, building a foundation that would later include advanced degrees, advocacy work and recognition as the Renew Start Georgia Collaborative Mental Health Advocate of the Year award.
After facing her own health challenges, Dumas became a serial entrepreneur. During recovery, she launched SpeakRX, an app helping patients cut through healthcare jargon and advocate for themselves. "Understanding the language of medicine made all the difference for me," she said. "I want to give that power to others." She went on to launch Onward Healthcare Solutions in 2020, helping small providers navigate pandemic compliance, and later founded A Light After Nine, a nonprofit born from her journey through nine pregnancy losses that offers wellness resources for families facing similar struggles.
Across all of her roles, Dumas channels the passion that led her to the nursing profession. "Nursing is about caring for people at their most vulnerable moments,” she said. “If you don't love it, the challenges will overwhelm you. But when you do—the opportunities are endless."
Meet Rachell Dumas, BSN '16
These Covista alumni are part of a network more than 400,000 strong—innovators and leaders, with over 700 holding C-suite positions in healthcare organizations across the country. Alongside Covista's current students and newest graduates, they are bringing their creativity, fresh ideas and dedication to the medical students, specialties and communities that need it most.
*Covista has more than 400,000 alumni as of June 2026. The company is educating more than 100,000 students as of March 2026 and has 28,000 2025-2026 graduates as of June 2026.
