Forged by FAU - Bianca Biglione - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

For as long as Bianca Biglione could remember, she wanted to play college tennis and attend medical school.

One “life-changing” phone call and a subsequent scholarship offer set both dreams into motion for the Panama City Beach native.

“I still remember I was in the middle of practice maybe junior year of high school, and I got a missed call from (then-FAU women’s tennis coach) Marcy Cava and I called her right back,” said Biglione, who owned the third-highest GPA of her high school’s graduating class. “That was the catalyst that drove my whole life experience.”

Biglione joined the Owls in 2013 and seamlessly transitioned to the college court and classroom. She earned a 4.0 GPA every semester through her 2017 graduation, even while double majoring in biological science and psychology, winning multiple conference and district academic honors along the way. Athletically, Conference USA awarded Biglione Second and Third Team All-Conference honors her sophomore and junior seasons, respectively.

None of those accomplishments, however, would’ve been possible without Biglione and FAU’s coaching staff coming to a “basic understanding” of her schedule and needs.

“We’re playing a college sport for four years, but you have to think about the rest of your life,” Biglione said. “And [Cava] was very good about that and she would support our dreams, on and off the court.”

“There were a lot of all-nighters,” she added, “but [FAU’s] understanding and support is the way I made it happen.”

A dream-fulfilling student-athlete experience wasn’t the only thing FAU made happen for Biglione. In June 2017, C-USA awarded Biglione one of 14 Jim Castaneda Postgraduate Scholarship Awards for her outstanding academic career.

FAU, which helped realize the first half of Biglione’s lifelong dream of college tennis and medical school, also facilitated the second.

“That was a fantastic opportunity and I really owe my success to FAU because they supported me every step of the way,” Biglione said. “I would not be where I was if it were not for FAU. Obviously, FAU housed my undergraduate education, it housed my student-athlete career, and now I’m at the medical school at FAU. So, Conference USA helped keep that alive and keep that going. That was incredibly exciting, to have the financial support that both scholarships afforded me.”

Biglione is now a third-year medical student at FAU’s renowned Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. In her first two years Biglione studied pre-clinically, including writing a peer-review article – detailing Aspirin’s efficacy in treating and preventing migraine headaches – alongside a mentor in Charles Hennekens.

As was the case in her tennis career, Biglione’s hard work is translating into success. She recently accepted a research fellowship at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, where she’ll be studying dermatology, a field she anticipates she’ll work in long-term. Biglione will return to FAU for her final year of medical school and apply for residencies once her fellowship is complete.

Biglione completed hospital rotations within the past year, an experience the COVID-19 pandemic has made “very tough” and “very unprecedented” as students like her scrounged for opportunities to learn while urgent medical needs were being met.

Still, Biglione found a way to persevere through the challenge and better herself. She credits much of the mental fortitude that required to her FAU student-athlete experience.

“I would say that being a student-athlete is the best preparation you can have for any career,” Biglione said. “Once you’re able to juggle the pressures of expectations on and off the court, as well as time management, juggling practices and study periods ... once you’re able to do that, you’re at least well-equipped and confident to perform against a challenge. So, I would say that has given me the confidence to try and tackle something now in med school.”