Jason Baity ’15

Jason Baity ’15 helps amputees live their lives without limits.  

A prosthetic clinician at Hanger Clinic in Durham, Baity develops care plans for patients missing lower or upper extremities. He begins by determining the functions they hope to regain with a prosthesis, fitting patients with a customized limb replacement, and then training them to use the prosthesis for optimal function.  

It’s a noble, yet unexpected, profession that came to pass after a few career detours. 

In his late twenties and early thirties, Baity was a beer and wine salesman. Before that, he’d worked for Nintendo, traveling around the nation as a Pokémon instructor. Although he still loves gaming and a good beverage, neither felt like his life’s calling, he says. 

Baity was laid off in 2009 and looked to UNCG for a recession-proof career in health care. He reached out to Dr. Rob Cannon, UNCG’s medical pre-professional advisor at the time, for more information about medical career paths that would match with his skill set. 

“I knew that I wanted to get into something involving physical well-being, enabling people to move and live healthy lives,” says Baity. “Going to UNCG with its large web of resources, and the helpful advice of professors, helped me focus my goals.” 

Baity was 35 when he enrolled at UNCG as a kinesiology major with an eye on pre-medical or pre-dental school. Kinesiology professors Dr. Aaron Terranova and Dr. Allan Goldfarb made an impact, but a conversation with Dr. Randy Schmitz put him on his current path.  

“Dr. Schmitz mentioned ‘prosthetist’ and something clicked,” Baity remembers. “Fitting prosthetics would combine science, math, art, and psychology and those were all my fortes. That was it!”  

He contacted a Greensboro Hanger clinic to shadow a prosthetist, and the experience fueled his enthusiasm for the career. He excelled in his classes, assisted in Dr. Goldfarb’s research lab, earned the JoAnne Safrit Kinesiology Scholarship, and gave the student address at the May 2015 Commencement. 

Following graduation, he received a master’s in Prosthetics and Orthotics from Georgia Institute of Technology and has been a certified prosthetist for seven years. He has seen patients from four-to-94 years old, and each one is different. Keeping up with new technology is critical for him to find the right prosthesis to return patients to a high level of function.

“We see patients at a very difficult time. Losing a limb is traumatic,” Baity says. “But the goal is to enable them to feel like themselves again. I’m proud to be making a difference in people’s lives.” 

Rooted in Science,
Thriving in Service

Learn more about how UNCG’s culture of access opens doors for medical careers.