Systems Biology
Proteasome Recognized
as Nuclear Player on Gene-transcription Team
Pharmacology
Sense of Security May Be False
with Tried and True Anti-inflammatories
Immunology
Discovery of Calcium Channel
Protein Illuminates T Cell Signaling
Medical Education Reform
• New Curriculum Revs Up for Summer
• Introduction to the Profession: Entering Students Take the Plunge
Cutting Air Pollution Shown to Save Lives
Enoxaparin Beats Heparin in Clot-busting Trial
Kass Lecture Promotes Advance of Women in Surgery
HMS Faculty Inaugurate Medical Foundation in Dubai
Rabkin Fellows Chosen for ’06–’07
• The Enabling Side of a Disabled Child
• Ethics in Research: Are We Teaching by Example?
New Curriculum Revs Up for Summer
The HMS Medical Education Reform Initiative, begun in 2002, will culminate in the rolling implementation of the new curriculum in August of this year. To keep the faculty, students, and staff abreast of the initiative’s progress, this issue of Focus begins a series of vignettes that address the individual components of the revised curriculum. Prior to the first vignette, I would like to give a brief overview of the current plan.
In the middle of August, Introduction to the Profession, a course for the entering class, will kick off the new curriculum, and the preclinical component, called Fundamentals of Medicine, will start in September. Included in the fundamentals track will be the basic biological sciences and population sciences that underlie clinical medicine as well as Patient–Doctor I and II, courses that introduce students to clinical medicine.
Much work has gone into increasing integration at all levels. In the second year, the teaching of pathophysiology will be presented in a more integrated way that incorporates aspects of pharmacology, pathology, and nutrition associated with individual systems. To address important issues confronting physicians in the 21st century, our students will participate in a longitudinal sequence of courses in medical ethics/professionalism, social medicine, clinical epidemiology, and health policy that will span the first year and a half.
The third-year clerkships, now the Principal Clinical Experience, will be taught at a single site and will incorporate the many disciplines of medicine. The experience will focus on longitudinal exposure to a multidisciplinary curriculum, to mentoring by a group of faculty, to assessment, and to ambulatory care. Exciting pilots are already under way to help us scale up to full implementation by the spring of 2008. We are also working on incorporating faculty-mentored, in-depth scholarly projects into the curriculum and on enhancing the role of an expanded “elective” period toward the end of undergraduate training.
We have arrived at this launch stage through a painstaking, community-wide process. In December 2004, after more than two years of work, we distributed a review of the conclusions of the faculty committees, task forces, and working groups on Medical Education Reform. During the November 2005 retreat on the reform initiative, plans were reported by the design groups working on components of the curriculum (Introduction to the Profession, Fundamentals of Medicine, Principal Clinical Experience, Advanced Experiences in Basic Sciences and Clinical Medicine, and In-depth Concentrations). After the retreat, the Medical Education Reform steering committee endorsed the new curriculum structure, and in January 2006, we distributed the reports and conclusions of the five design groups (on the eCommons site, navigate to Organization List and MedEdReform).
We sincerely hope that you share our enthusiasm for the start of the new curriculum and that you find these updates both interesting and valuable.