New OSU Dean Will Promote Cross-Disciplinary Research

The Ohio State University College of Medicine has named Dr. Wiley W. "Chip" Souba Jr. as its new dean, effective August 14.

Dr. Souba is currently the chair of surgery at the Penn State College of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He holds an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, a doctor of science degree in nutritional biochemistry from the Harvard School of Public Health, and an MBA from the Boston University School of Management. His interest in organizational management and leadership is reflected in his service as director of the Penn State Hershey Center for Leadership Development.

Dr. Souba told a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch that he looks forward to working with students at OSU. "I’ve always felt that one of the greatest things about academic medicine is the ability to be exposed to young people," he said.

Dr. Souba's priorities at OSU include promoting cross-disciplinary projects, both within the College of Medicine and between the College and other schools.

Elizabeth Lenz, dean of OSU's School of Nursing and chair of the College's search committee, said that she and her colleagues were impressed by Souba's qualifications and his approach to leadership and to medical research. "We saw him as someone who would be very collaborative. … He was just brimming with all kinds of ideas," Lenz told the Dispatch.

Sources:

"Ohio State Taps Souba, Penn State Chief Surgeon, as New Dean of Medicine" - press release, OSU College of Medicine, June 21, 2006

"New Dean for OSU Medical School," by Misti Crane - the Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio), June 22, 2006

AAMC Calls for 30% Increase in Med School Enrollment

The Association of American Medical Colleges wants U.S. medical schools to increase their student enrollment by 30 per cent by 2015. Without that increase, it says, the U.S. will not have enough trained physicians to meet the needs of its growing population.

The AAMC's plan would result in about 5,000 more M.D.s graduating from allopathic medical schools each year. The AAMC believes this can be achieved by expanding enrollment at existing medical schools and by establishing new schools.

The AAMC also suggested that American health care experts and educators consider whether foreign medical schools could play a role in training U.S. physicians. The Association suggested that an accreditation process be established to assess the quality of teaching offered at such schools and to facilitate U.S. clinical training for their American graduates.

However, medical schools alone cannot address the problem of producing more physicians, the AAMC noted. It also called on the U.S. government to increase the number of teaching hospital residencies funded by Medicare.

Just over a year ago, the AAMC called for a 15 per cent increase in medical school enrollment. Further research has led it to conclude that a much larger increase is needed to head off a shortfall in U.S. medical personnel.

Some of the observations that led to AAMC's conclusion are that:

- The U.S. population is growing by about 2.5 million people each year.
- The percentage of Americans aged 66 and older will double between 2000 and 2030.
- About one out of three M.D.s now practicing in the U.S. is 56 or older and likely to retire by 2020.
- Younger physicians, like other professionals, want more work-life balance and are less willing to put in the extended hours that the last generation of physicians accepted as a norm.

Source: "AAMC Calls for 30 Percent Increase in Medical School Enrollment" - press release, the Association of American Medical Colleges (Washington, DC), June 19, 2006

USA Today Report on US Applicants to East European Med Schools

USA Today reports that a Chicago-area entrepreneur is marketing Eastern European medical schools as an option for US students who are not competitive for US medical school admissions.

Atul Kaushal, the child of two Chicago-area physicians, himself holds a medical degree from Hungary. As an undergrad, he was told that his grades were not good enough for him to be a viable candidate for US medical schools. He and his parents looked overseas for other options and decided on Hungary. Kaushal returned to Chicago and interned at a local hospital for a year after receiving his degree, but says he soon decided that he preferred entrepreneurship to practicing healthcare.

Kaushal's company, Source America, has helped qualified students apply to medical schools in Slovakia for the past two years, and this year will begin working with applications to Bulgarian medical schools as well. Kaushal says he is confident that the European schools he helps students apply to provide a quality medical education because they are well-established and have ties with large hospitals.

There is not yet a track record of how Kaushal's clients fare when they return to the US with Eastern European medical degrees. USA Today notes that in 2004, only 53% of US citizens with medical degrees from overseas passed the medical licensing exam on the first try, compared to 90% of those with US and Canadian degrees.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last fall that at least 10 states had placed special restrictions on the licensing of foreign medical graduates.

Source: "Rx for Med School Hopefuls: Studying in Eastern Europe," by Alvin P. Sanoff - USA Today, June 12, 2006

Joint MD/MBA Programs Gaining Ground, But Slowly

A survey by IndUS Business Journal finds that U.S. enrollment in joint MD/MBA programs is growing.

12 of the 23 schools that responded to the Journal's survey said they were seeing increased interest in their joint MD/MBA programs. Faculty say the trend is due to a growing awareness of the need for physicians to have a voice in health care management.
48 out of the 125 medical schools in the United States now offer joint MD/MBA programs. The first program was founded at Northwestern University in 1986. Since that time, a number of other universities, including Harvard, Yale, Boston, and Vanderbilt, have introduced their own programs.

Although formal enrollment of students in joint MD/MBA programs remains low -- on average, only about 3 students out of a medical school class of 250 -- there is enough interest among medical students in business studies and MBA programs that Jessica Merlin, an MD/MBA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and Michael Ward, who earned separate MD and MBA degrees at Emory, began a web site devoted to the topic. They call www.md-mba.org a central information resource for students interested in both fields.

Ward argues that doctors need to learn about the complexities of health care management to carry out their duties in a responsible way. "If you can't keep your doors open [for business], it doesn't matter how great a clinician you are," he told the Journal. Other physicians noted that management skills were especially important to doctors who want to keep nonprofit health care services running.

Other options for medical students who want to gain management skills are master's degree programs in public health care and Executive MBA (EMBA) programs designed for health care workers. Short-term classes, seminars, and online courses are also available through organizations like the American College of Physician Executives.

Source: "Medical Attitudes Shift, Prompting MD/MBA Degree Rise," by Paul Imbesi. IndUSA Business Journal, June 1, 2006.

U. Virginia Creates Post-Bac Pre-Med Program for Career Changers

The University of Virginia's School of Continuing and Professional Studies has created a new post-baccalaureate, pre-medical program for career changers.

The 12-month-long, intensive program teaches the chemistry, biology, physics and organic chemistry courses that applicants need to meet the science prerequisites for medical school. It also includes an MCAT prep course and volunteer opportunities to shadow working physicians or serve at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

19 students are enrolled in the program this year, with classes beginning in June. Program director William Fornadel says that the University will keep the program small in order to maximize the attention that students receive. The program will be customized to each student's needs, providing the personalized mentoring and guidance that career changers need for a successful transition to the medical field.

This year's class of 19 students was selected from 68 applicants. 8 of the admitted students are from Virginia and the rest are from other states. Admitted students had an average undergraduate GPA of 3.5 from schools including Dartmouth, Duke, and the UC Berkeley.

Source: "University of Virginia Inaugurates New Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program for 'Career Changers'" - press release, the University of Virginia, June 7, 2006

U. of Colorado Students Get Taste of Rural Healthcare

Third-year medical students at the University of Colorado at Denver have an unusual opportunity to get hands-on experience with rural health care through the school's community rotation curriculum.

Students following the curriculum spend six weeks training with a physician outside of Denver and then do a month's service under the supervision of a physician designated by the school. Students concentrate on either family practice, surgery, or psychiatry, depending on the community and physician they are assigned to.

Dr. Karla Demby of Cortez is one of the physicians certified by the University to train and supervise rotational students. She has served in this capacity for ten years, and holds the title of associate clinical professor at the University. She says the 30-plus students she has supervised have all been outstanding. "We get absolutely top-notch students," from Denver, Demby told a reporter for the local newspaper. "They’re smart. They’re motivated." She noted that one of her students returned to Cortez after graduation and opened her own practice.

Liane Campbell, a University of Colorado medical student doing her rotation in Cortez, has shadowed Dr. Demby through work days that begin at 7 a.m. at the local hospital. Demby and Campbell check on patients, review lab tests and x-rays, and make decisions about further tests and discharges. Later in the morning they begin seeing outpatients. Campbell works with patients directly and, if they have agreed to work with a student doctor, on her own, using templates from Demby to question patients about symptoms and histories. At the end of the day, Demby goes over Campbell's patient notes with her.

Colorado is one of a number of states that face chronic shortages of primary care physicians in rural areas. Cortez itself does not have as many physicians as it should for its population according to national standards. The community is already presently three physicians short of full coverage and expects to lose another physician when a local internist closes her practice later this year.

Source: "Med Student Learns Rural Ropes," by John R. Crane. The Cortez Journal, June 6, 2006