All Star Essays Medical School News

The 2008 Application Season Is About to Begin!

2007-05-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

Medical school applicants will be able to access the 2008 editions of the centralized online application systems for M.D. and D.O. programs soon.

AMCAS, the medical school application service run by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), is scheduled to go online on May 3. Although not all application features may be available at that time, applicants should be able to register for accounts and to begin inputting their basic application information.

Almost all U.S. schools that award M.D. degrees use AMCAS. The significant exceptions are the 6 state-supported medical schools in Texas, which have their own centralized application system, known as TMDSAS; the University of North Dakota; and the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

AACOMAS, the centralized application system for osteopathic medical schools, is scheduled to go online in June.

The personal statement is a major component of the primary essays that med school applicants submit through these centralized systems. It's important for applicants to remember that these essays will be seen by the admissions committee of every school the primary application is submitted to, whereas the personal statement submitted with a secondary application will be read at only one school. For more information about why this makes a difference to how you approach your essay, see the Medical Services page on the AllStarEssays website.

More LSU Grads Choosing to Stay in Louisiana

2007-03-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Almost one-half of Louisiana State University's fourth-year medical students chose to stay in-state for residencies this year, according to the LSU Health Sciences Center's Match Day results.

LSUHSC also filled 93 per cent of its own residencies, up from 87 per cent in the last year before Hurricane Katrina.

LSUHSC and state officials are pleased with the outcome, since physicians tend to stay and practice in the state where they conducted their residency.

Source: "FEMA Funding RSD's Temporary Classrooms," by Stephen Maloney. New Orleans CityBusiness, March 26, 2007.

Match Day 2007

2007-03-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Thousands of fourth-year medical students across the U.S. received envelopes last Friday that contained the name of the hospitals and programs where they will be spending the next several years.

March 16 was 'Match Day,' the annual day on which the National Resident Matching Program announes the outcome of medical students' residency applications. The Match results are sent to schools, which distribute them to students.

According to news reports, over 27,000 applicants took part in this year's Match. Approximately 15,200 were fourth-year students at LCME-accredited (allopathic) medical schools, while the remainder were from osteopathic or foreign medical schools. Approximately 21,845 residencies were available.

44 per cent of the Harvard Medical School's 180 graduating students opted for primary care residencies. Approximately 33 per cent of HMS grads chose internal medicine, and 8 per cent chose emergency care.

49 per cent of Tufts students selected primary care residencies and 18 per cent chose surgical specialties. 5 per cent will perform residencies in the U.S. military.

Over one-third of Louisiana State University's graduating class of 92 students chose primary care residencies. 28 LSU graduates will continue their residencies at the LSU Hospital.

Most U.S. medical schools will hold commencement ceremonies in mid-May. Newly-minted M.D.s will report to their residencies in late June or July.

OHSU Extends 3rd-Year Training to Mid-Valley Region

2007-02-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

The Oregon Health & Science University is reported to have reached an agreement with Oregon State University that will allow third-year medical students to train at hospitals in Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon.

An OHSU official said the satellite program would help the school realize its goal of increasing medical student enrollment by a third. As the only medical school in the state, OHSU is being called on to play a major role in addressing Oregon's growing shortage of trained physicians.

Last fall, OHSU enrolled 120 first-year students. A typical class profile is as follows:

Applications received: Over 4,000*
Applicants interviewed: Over 420*
Applicants accepted: 218
Students enrolled: 120

Average age: 26
Average GPA (overall): 3.63
Average GPA (science) 3.57
Average MCAT: 31
Re-applicants: 32 per cent

* NOTE: Only 9 per cent of applicants were from Oregon, whereas 70 per cent of matriculating students are state residents.

Stanford, Duke, Michigan Deans Talk About Diveristy

2007-01-31T14:51:00.000-08:00

The Deans of Admission for the medical schools at Stanford, Duke, and the University of Michigan spoke about diversity and the medical profession at a recent panel hosted by the Yale College Dean’s Office and the Yale Health Professions Advisory Program.

The three agreed that health care professionals have the potential to promote positive social change through their practice of medicine. "Medicine offers you a license to do an amazing amount of good," said Stanford's Dr. Gabriel Garcia.

They agreed that extracurricular and community activities played an important role in their own preparation for medical school and that their schools look for applicants now who are not only strong academically but also active outside the classroom.

One of the deans noted that there is a significant difference between a technician and a healer, and that medical schools are looking for candidates with the ethical and social perspectives required of healers.

Source: "Panel Addresses Med. School Diversity," by Alyssa Nguyen-Phuc, the Yale Daily News, January 30, 2007

U. of Hawaii Gets Record High Number of Applications

2007-01-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine has received over 1,900 applications for the 64 first-year class spaces available in Fall 2007.

This year's applicant pool marks a 16.5 per cent increase from last year and sets a record high for the number applications submitted to the School in a single admissions season.

Only 223 of this year's applications are from Hawaii residents, while the remainder are from non-residents. The School's policy is to enroll no more than 6 out-of-state students in each class.

Source: "University of Hawaii Medical School Attracts Record-High Number of Applicants," by Gregg Takayama, the Hawaii Reporter, January 12, 2007

Virginia Plans Fifth Medical School

2007-01-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

rVirginia officials have confirmed their interest in establishing a new state-supported medical school, the fifth one in that state.

The school would be a partnership between Virginia Tech and Carilion Health System and would be built somewhere in the Roanoke region.

Virginia is presently home to three state-supported medical schools and one private medical school. State officials are concerned that the existing schools are not able to train enough physicians to keep pace with the healthcare needs of Virginia's growing and aging population.

Source: "Kaine to Announce Plans for a 5th Medical School in Virginia," by Sue Lindsey, AP (Roanoke, VA), January 2, 2007

Case Western Plans Joint M.D./D.M.D. Degree Program

2007-01-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Case Western University is launching an innovative joint degree program this fall that will graduate health care professionals with degrees in medicine and dentistry.

The program, the first of its kind in the country, will enroll approximately five students each fall. Students will pursue a five-year curriculum that is similar to the training that oral surgeons -- who undergo a medical residency following dental school -- undergo.

Students will qualify for dental licensure upon graduation, and for medical licensure after completion of a medical residency.

Case officials said that the program grew out of a growing appreciation for the linkages between physical and oral health. For example, recent research has found linkages between gum disease and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fetal development.

Graduates of the M.D./D.M.D. program are expected to be well-prepared for expanded general practice dentistry, for further dental and medical specialization, and for research careers.

Source: "Combining Medical and Dental Education," by Paul Thacker, Inside Higher Education, January 3, 2007

Panel Wants U. of Indiana to Increase Enrollment by 30 Per Cent

2006-12-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Indiana University School of Medicine needs to take in 30 per cent more students over the coming decade to keep pace with the state's growing demand for medical professionals, a task force convened by the University says.

If the School does not increase its enrollment, Indiana residents will face a shortage of as many as 1,975 physicians by 2015, the task force said.

The IU School of Medicine is already one of the largest medical schools in the country, enrolling 280 new students each fall. Approximately half of the physicians who practice in Indiana either hold an M.D. from IU or have taken additional professional training there.

Source: "Task Force: IU Med School Should Boost Enrollment," Inside INdiana Business, December 20, 2006

Yale Considers Expansion to Palm Beach

2006-12-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

The Yale School of Medicine is exploring the possibility of opening a new branch facility in Palm Beach, Florida.

If it materializes, the Palm Beach facility would represent Yale's first out-of-state expansion.

The facility would most likely be an outpatient clinic that also serves as a teaching center.

Source: "Yale Medical School Looks at Expansion Into County," by Patty Pansa, the Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), December 15, 2006

U. of Kansas Tops Family Practitioners List

2006-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

The University of Kansas School of Medicine places more M.D.s in family medicine residencies than any other medical school in the U.S., according to a recent survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In recent years, over 1 in 5 Kansas graduates have chosen family medicine as their specialty. 39 of the School's 2005 graduates went into family medicine residencies.

The AAFP report also found that graduates of publicly-funded medical schools were more likely to go into family medicine than private medical school graduates are. 9.9 per cent of graduates from publicly-funded medical schools were in family medicine residencies in the fall of 2005, compared to 5.8 per cent of private school graduates.

The AAFP has previously reported that the number of M.D.s going into family medicine has fallen by more than half since 1997, contributing to a projected nationwide shortfall of family physicans by 2020.

Source: "KU School of Medicine Ranks #1 in Number of Graduates Choosing a Family Medicine Residency" - press release, the University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, KS), December 11, 2006

Wake Forest Dean Elected to Lead Am College of Physicians

2006-12-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Wake Forest University School of Medicine Dean William B. Applegate, M.D., has been elected to head the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians for 2007-2008.

The ACP is the leading national organization representing physicians working in internal medicine and its subspecialties. It has approximately 120,000 members, including medical students. Its activities include public policy advocacy, supporting continuing medical education, and publishing the Annals of Internal Medicine. The Board of Regents is the main policy-making body of the ACP and oversees its business operations.

Applegate was named Dean of the Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2002. He previously served as chair of the internal medicine department. He is nationally recognized as an outstanding clinician and for his research in managing hypertension in elderly patients.

Application Volume Up 55 Per Cent at U of Kentucky

2006-11-29T13:17:00.000-08:00

As of Thanksgiving week, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine had already received almost 1,240 applications for fall 2007 enrollment. That number marks a 55 per cent increase over last year's application volume.

The UK College of Medicine enrolls 103 first-year M.D. students each fall.

Source: "Medical School Applications Increase by 55 Percent," Jill Laster, The Kentucky Kernel (Lexington, Kentucky), November 22, 2006

LSU Returns to New Orleans

2006-11-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

Louisiana State University has reopened its University Hospital in New Orleans on a limited basis, marking the post-Katrina return of LSU residents and staff to the city.

The Hospital's emergency room, intensive care unit, and a restricted number of general medical care beds were scheduled to back in operation. 85 of the Hospital's orginal 575 beds are available.

LSU's hospital system is working with U.S. federal authorities to rebuild New Orlean's health care system. University Hospital will be the only training hospital in New Orleans until a new facility is build to replace Charity Hospital. Spokesmen for LSU's Health Care Services Division caution that a new facility is still years away, and that funds still need to be secured for the project. If and when a new training hospital is built, University Hospital will probably be turned over for clinical research.

Source: "Scaled Back Hospital Reopens," by Kate Moran, the Times-Picayune (New Orleans), November 17, 2006

U. of California Expanding Enrollment?

2006-11-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

The University of California will soon announce a plan to expand its medical school enrollment by almost 1,000 students, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The plan calls for increased enrollment at the five existing UC medical schools and the creation of a sixth medical school at Riverside.

The plan also calls for increased enrollment in nursing, pharmacology, and veterinary medicine. State officials say the UC system needs to produce more graduates in all of these fields in order to keep pace with the demands of a growing and aging population.

The expanded medical school enrollment would take years to achieve. The target enrollment of 3,429 medical students each year -- a 34 per cent increase over the current enrollment of 2,564 -- would not be reached until 2020.

Source: "New Med School Part of UC Plan to Boost Health Care Graduates," by Tanya Schevitz, the San Francisco Chronicle, November 14, 2006

U of Missouri Says PBL Curriculum Works

2006-11-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

The University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine recently reviewed the effectiveness of the Problem-Based Learning curriclum it introduced 13 years ago and confirmed that its approach has been successful in preparing medical professionals to work in a field where the state of knowledge is constantly growing and changing.

The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum reduces the amount of time that medical students spend in lecture classes and discourages rote memorization of data. Instead, it trains students to understand and practice medicine in a clinical context.

Researchers found that Missouri students' performance on medical licensing exams improved significantly after PBL was introduced. Today, Missouri students' test scores on the basic science and clinical sections of the test are significantly above the national average. Researchers also concluded that students who were taught under PBL did better in their first-year residencies than earlier students had.

The PBL curriculum used by the University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine begins with two years of foundational studies, with each year being divided into four 10-week 'blocks.' Each block consists of an eight-week period for learning, a one-week period of assessment, and then a one-week period of rest. The blocks include instruction in basic science and in patient care. Students are assigned to study groups of eight which, under the supervision of a faculty member, use case studies to learn medical science and problem solving in a clinical context.

Third-year students are assigned to a series of clerkships in internal medicine, family medicine, child health care, and other required fields. Fourth-year students have elective rotations.

Source: “Problem-Based Learning Curriculum a Success for Medical School,” press release, University of Missouri – Columbia, October 31, 2006

California Court Tells MCAT to Follow State Disability Guidelines

2006-11-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

A California court has ruled that the MCAT must follow state and not federal guidelines in determining the type of accommodations that disabled test-takers are entitled to. If the ruling stands, it may have ripple effects on MCAT administration and medical school admissions nationwide.

The ruling comes out of a class action suit filed on behalf of test-takers with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. The plaintiffs had asked the AAMC, which administers the test, for additional time to complete the MCAT. The AAMC refused, saying that the the test-takers' conditions were not extensive enough to qualify as disabilities under federal guidelines.

The court ruled that since the test was being administered in California, the AAMC had to follow California guidelines in determining which test-takers are entitled to special accommodations. Because California law uses broader language than federal law does to define disabilities, the ruling would force the AAMC to extend special accommodations to more test-takers than it does now.

Because it would not be practical to change MCAT administration in just one state, the California court ruling may affect the way that the MCAT is given nationwide.

Source: "Judge Challenges MCAT Rules," by Paul D. Thacker, Inside Higher Education, November 6, 2007

Pioneering Pediatric Cardiologist on U of Kentucky Admissions Committee

2006-11-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Applicants to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine may find their application being reviewed by a pioneering figure in the field of pediatric cardiology.

Dr. Jacqueline Noonan was already recognized as a leader in that speciality when she joined the faculty at the recently established UK College of Medicine in 1961. During her training at Boston Children's Hospital, she had observed and described a congenital cardiac condition she called "hypoplastic left heart syndrome." Later, while teaching at the University of Iowa, she identified another congenital heart condition that became known as Noonan syndrome.

Dr. Noonan went on to become a pillar of the UK College of Medicine and of the surrounding community. Now 78 and nominally retired, she still sees patients at local health clinics, teaches a class at the medical school, serves on a board overseeing medical research -- and helps to select admits for the College of Medicine.

The University of Kentucky Vice President for Health Affairs Michael Karpf told a reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader that students are perennially taken by how approachable and supportive Dr. Noonan is. "People tend to just see this lady who works with first-year medical students and goes to clinics in Eastern Kentucky," Karpf told the paper. "Many don't realize how important she has been on the national and international scene as a cardiologist. She's a true pioneer."

- Source: "A Hero for Young Hearts," by Jim Warren, the Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky), November 3, 2006

Registration for 2007 MCATs Opens Soon

2006-10-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Registration for the 2007 administrations of the MCAT will begin in a few weeks.

Registration for the January 27 and 29 MCAT will open on November 15 and close in mid-January.

Registration for the April and May test dates will open on December 13 and continue until about two weeks before the test date. (Late registration is available until about a week before the test date.)

For more information about 2007 test dates and registration procedures, go to the AAMC's MCAT website (aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm).

U of Hawaii Med School Guest Stars in ABC's 'Lost'

2006-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

The University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine provided the set for a flashback scene in an upcoming episode of the ABC series, 'Lost.'

Producer Jean Higgins said that the Burns School's state-of-the-art lab facilities were just what was needed for the scene. "We really needed a very advanced-looking lab," she told a reporter for the Star-Bulletin of Honolulu.

The School facilities used in the shooting included a second-floor laboratory, the gross anatomy lab, and interior and exterior passageways. (Any 'bodies' that appear in the 'Lost' episode will actually be manequins. Cadavers were removed from the gross anatomy lab, and the area was sterilized, before shooting began.)

The scenes shot at the Burns School will be used for a flashback sequence involving the 'Lost' character Juliet, played by Elizabeth Mitchell. It was not clear when the episode will be aired.

Source: "'Lost' Goes to Medical School," by Katherine Nichols, the Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii), October 24, 2006.

Med School Applications & Enrollment Both Rising, AAMC Says

2006-10-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that medical school application volume and medical school enrollment both increased between 2005 and 2006.

The number of people applying to enter M.D. programs at U.S. schools this fall grew by approximately 4.5 per cent over last year, the AAMC says. Over 39,000 individual applicants sought medical school admission during the 2005-2006 application season.

Medical schools also increased their intake of first-year students, although, on the national scale, enrollment only grew at about half the pace that application volume did.

Total U.S. medical school student enrollment grew by about 2.2 per cent over the past year.

Approximately one-fifth of the 128 AAMC member schools increased their intake by 5 per cent or more. Several top-ranked schools, including Brown and Boston University, increased their enrollment by 15 per cent or more.

Source: "U.S. Medical School Enrollment Continues to Climb" - press release, AAMC (Washington, DC), October 18, 2006

Out-of-State Applicants Drive Application Increase at West Virginia's Med Schools

2006-10-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Out-of-state students appear to account for most of the increase in applications to West Virginia's three medical schools, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Application volume is up dramatically at all three schools.

The West Virginia University School of Medicine received 2,037 applications last year, 55 per cent more than the 1,307 applications it received in 2004-2005. Application volume appears to be strong again this year, with 1,749 applications having already been received a month before WVU's November 15 deadline. WVU enrolls 110 students each fall.

Marshall University received 1,573 applications last year, more than twice the 785 applications it received the year before. A school staff member said she thought Marshall's increased outreach to prospective students helped explain the increase. Marshall accepts about 65 new students each year.

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine is seeing a smaller but still significant increase in applications, with a 2005-2006 applicant pool that is about 11 per cent larger than the 2004-2005 pool. Last fall, approximately 2,500 people applied for the 200 spaces the School has available.

Officials from WVU and WVSOM both said they would like to see more in-state applicants, but that for now the majority of their applicants come from out of state.

Source: "Out-of-Staters Filling Med Schools," by Jessica K. Karmasek, the Charleston Daily Mail, October 16, 2006

Arizona Gains 2 New Medical Schools

2006-10-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Two new medical schools -- one allopathic and one osteopathic -- were officially inaugurated in Arizona this week.

The University of Arizona held opening ceremonies for the College of Medicine in Phoenix on October 10. The school, which marks an innovative collaboration between UA, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and a biomedical research firm, the Translational Genomics Institute (TGen), hopes to enroll its first group of two dozen medical students next summer. Eventually school officials hope to graduate 150 M.D.s each year, which would make the UA College of Medicine - Phoenix the largest medical school in the state.

Several weeks earlier, Missouri-based A.T. Still University received accreditation for an osteopathic medical campus it had established in Mesa. The Mesa campus will welcome its first class of 100 D.O. students next July.

State officials hope that both schools will graduate physicians who elect to stay and practice in Arizona, which has a chronic shortage of trained medical personnel.

Sources:

"UA Medical School Opens Its Phoenix Campus Today," by Howard Fischer - the Arizona Daily Star, October 10, 2006

"Medical School Prepping in Mesa," by J.J. Hensley - the Arizona Republic, October 13, 2006

MSU Expansion Plans on Track

2006-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Officials at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine say that the school's plans to establish an additional medical school in Grand Rapids, effectively expanding the College's enrollment, are on track and that students could be using the new facility by 2008.

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Aron Sousa told MSU's State News that 50 of next year's admits could be assigned to the proposed West Michigan Medical School facility for their 3rd and 4th years of classes.

MSU officials are already hiring additional staff to support a larger graduating class, negotiating teaching arrangements with area hospitals, and examining possible sites for the building that will house the West Michigan Medical School in Grand Rapids.

Officials expect the West Michigan Medical School to be fully functional in 2010.

For more information, see "Medical Expansion on Schedule for 2008," by Justin Kroll, the MSU State News, October 9, 2006.

UTHSC & Mexico City's UNAM Sign Exchange Agreement

2006-09-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

The University of Texas Health Sciences Center (UTHSC) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM) have signed a three-year agreement that will facilitate student exchanges and joint research projects.

The agreement also lays the foundation for faculty exchanges, the sharing of medical reference material, and joint sponsorship of classes, workshops, and seminars.

UNAM, which was founded over 400 years ago and which enrolls over 5,000 students, has partnerships with over 1,000 public and private hospitals. UTHSC President Dr. Francisco Cigarroa said that UNAM offers some of the most sophisticated clinical training he has ever seen.

UTHSC plans to start exchanges slowly, with as few as 10 of its roughly 2,700 students going to Mexico each year. However, both schools hope that the exchange program will take root and grow over the coming years.

Source: "UTHSC Signs Pact with Major Mexican Medical School," by Scott Huddleston, the San Antonio Express-News, September 22, 2006

Stats for Incoming Harvard M.D. Students

2006-09-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

The Harvard Medical School received over 5,980 applications for the 165 seats in its Class of 2010. Approximately 13 per cent of applicants were invited to interview.

51 per cent of the students entering Harvard's M.D. program this fall are women and 49 per cent are men. The first-years range in age from 19 to 37, with 23 being the mean average. Over half of the students identify themselves as students of color, and 1 in 5 is a member of an under-represented minority. Although most (70 per cent) majored in the sciences, a large minority (22 per cent) majored in social sciences or the humanities or pursued a dual major.

Source: "Class Statistics," posted to the Harvard Medical School website.

First-Year Residents Often Flout 80-Hour Rule, Study Says

2006-09-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

A study by the Harvard Medical School has found that 84 per cent of first-year residents work more hours than the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education ethics code allows.

The ACGME code states that residents should not work more than 80 hours per week on average. It also states that shifts should not exceed 30 hours, and that residents should have at least 10 hours off between shifts.

However, most residents who responded to the HMS survey indicated that they worked more hours than permitted under the ethics code.

One of the study's authors noted that a separate survey conducted by the ACGME found a much lower incidence of over-worked residents. He believes the discrepancy in findings is due to a difference in survey methodology, and that the more in-depth questions asked in the HMS survey give a truer picture of residents' behavior.

Staff who supervise residents at the University of Wisconsin Hospital explained that residents are responsible for keeping track of their own hours. Residents enter the hours they work into a computer system; if staff become aware on an intern working excessive hours, they will speak to the intern about the ethics code.

The ACGME ethics code was adopted in 2003 to prevent burnout by overworked residents and to safeguard the quality of patient care.

Source: "Medical Interns Ignore Ethics Code," by Pamela Buechel. The University of Wisconsin Badger Herald, September 12, 2006.

Top 10 Medical Schools for Hispanic Students

2006-09-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hispanic Business has published its 2006 list of the best U.S. medical schools for Hispanic students.

The top 10 schools are:

1. The Stanford University School of Medicine

2. The University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio

3. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston School of Medicine

4. The University of New Mexico School of Medicine

5. The University of Miami School of Medicine

6. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

7. The University of Illinois College of Medicine

8. The University of Texas Medical School at Houston

9. The University of Arizona College of Medicine

10. Texas A&M University College of Medicine

Source: "The Top 10 Medical Schools for Hispanics" - Hispanic Business, September 2006

DOD Medical Scholarships Going Unclaimed

2006-08-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Department of Defense was able to award only 162 Health Professions Scholarships last year, falling far short of its recruitment goal of 291 medical and dental students.

Health Professions Scholarships are the means by which the U.S. military services recruit most of their medical and dental professionals. In the past, 70 per cent of Navy physicians and 80 per cent of Navy dentists have entered the service through the HPS Program, according to an article in the Army Times.

Health Professions Scholarships pay for recipients' tuition and textbooks and provide a montly living stipend of $1,292. Recipients agree to perform one year of active military service for each year of schooling that was funded under the program.

The DOD is considering expanding enrollment at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in order to make up for the medical recruiting shortfall, the Army Times says.

The USU's Edward Hebert School of Medicine currently enrolls about 170 first-year students each year, making it the 15th largest medical school in the U.S. The proposal now under consideration by the DOD could increase its enrollment to as many as 350 students.

Source: "Medical School Could Expand," by Chris Amos. The Army Times, August 22, 2006.

3rd-Year Clerkships Introduced in Montana

2006-08-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Medical students enrolled in the University of Washington's WWAMI program now have the opportunity to pursue their third-year studies in Montana.

The program, being introduced this fall, is open to up to 12 students who are either from Montana or interested in practicing medicine in Montana.

The students will pursue rotations in family medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, and psychology. 6 students will be based in Billings and 6 will be based in Missoula.

Montana is one of five states that support and fund the WWAMI program. Montana students accepted to it complete their first year of medical studies at the Montana State University in Bozeman and their second year at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle.

Source: "Doctors-to-Be Can Spend More Time in State," by Ed Kemmick - the Billings Gazette, August 19, 2006

Case Western Dean Moving to Stanford

2006-08-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Dean Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D., has been chosen to head the Department of Medicine at Stanford University's medical school, effective December 1.

During his tenure at Case, Dr. Horwitz helped create and implement an innovative curriculum that integrates medicine and public health. He also increased the number and quality of Case's teaching, research, and clinical staff, and oversaw the establishment of the new Case Medical Center.

Prior to joining Case as Dean, Dr. Horwitz taught at the Yale University School of Medicine. His achievements there include nearly doubling the amount of funding for research and establishing the first Ph.D. program in the clinical department of a U.S. medical school. As long-time co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, Dr. Horwitz encouraged physicians to work across disciplinary lines and to take an active part in setting health care policy.

Dr. Horwitz's own research into cancer, vascular diseases, and other conditions is seen as ground-breaking. He is credited with helping to formalize the field of clinical investigation and outcomes research.

A press release from Stanford University Medical Center cites Dr. Horwitz as saying that he cares deeply about "civic professionalism." He believes that physicians should respect the social contract between the medical profession and the general public and take an active part in restoring public trust in physicians. His many professional memberships and activities include being recently named to the advisory committee to the director of the National Insititutes of Health, a group that focuses on public policy concerning medicine, biomedical research, and biomedical communications.

Source: "Case Western Med School Dean to Chair Stanford Department of Medicine." Press release, Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford, CA), August 21, 2006.

New Dean Praises 'Internal Collaboration' at U of Buffalo

2006-08-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Michael E. Cain, M.D., has been named Dean of the University of Buffalo's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, effective November 1.

Cain comes to Buffalo from Washington University in St. Louis, where he is currently the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiovascular Program. He has also served as a professor of biomedical engineering.

Cain is highly regarded for his accomplishments as a researcher, clinician, manager, and educator. Satish K. Tripathi, UB provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, told a local paper that Cain is expected to "provide the vision and leadership to realize the goal of [turning the UB School of Medicine into] a top-tier, nationally ranked medical school recognized for its integrated health-sciences approach to medical education and innovative biomedical research."

Dr. Cain was impressed by UB's commitment to excellence and internal collaboration. He hopes that these strengths can be combined with strategic planning to promote innovative, inter-disciplinary approaches to medicine and science.

UB is part of the State University of New York system. The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is committed to training both researchers and practitioners. The goal of its M.D. program is to prepare "undifferentiated" graduates who are prepared to enter and excel in any existing or emerging medical field.

Source: "Michael Cain Named Dean of UB Medical School" - press release, University of Buffalo, August 16, 2006

Wake Forest Students Honored for Research

2006-08-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Five doctoral candidates in the molecular medicine program at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine were recently honored by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health for their research. Each student received a cash award to further their work.

The students are:

- Lan Coffman - for research into the development and growth of blood vessels that nourish tumors

- Dawn Delo - for research into cardiovascular regenerative medicine

- JaNae Joyner - for research into the interaction between pregnancy and blood pressure

- Manisha Nautiyal - for research into the role of enzymes in muscle wasting

- Jill Wykosky - for research into anti-cancer drugs that will target brain cancer cells

Wake Forest's MD/PhD program is taught jointly by the University's School of Medicine and its Graduate School. The program's philosophy is to provide students with a thorough education both as clinicians and as researchers. The program seeks applicants who have outstanding academic records and who show the potential and enthusiasm to conduct research beyond the college level.

Sources:

"WFU Student Researchers Win Awards" - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area, August 14, 2006

"MD-PhD Program: Medical Research for the New Century" - webpage, Wake Forest University School of Medicine (www1.wfubmc.edu/PTCR/MD+PhD+Program/)

Planned UC Med Schools Get $5m Boost

2006-08-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

UnitedHealth Group has made matching $5 million donations to support the planned establishment of medical schools at UC Merced and UC Riverside.

The funds will be used over three years to help develop medical and health science education programs at the two UC campuses. Specific uses of the money include paying for initial studies and faculty salaries.

UC Merced hopes to establish a medical school providing first- and second-year classes to 32 students within the next ten years. Students would complete their medical studies at the Fresno campus of UC San Francisco. Ultimately, it is hoped that the Merced school would teach all four years of the medical curriculum and graduate as many as 1oo students each year.

Source: "UC Merced Medical School Gets $5M Infusion," by Denny Boyles of the Fresno Bee - carried by the Modesto Bee, July 28, 2006.

Florida Hopsitals Plan to Add Teaching Residencies

2006-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Five Palm Beach County hospitals plan to add teaching residencies over the next three years, according to a local newspaper.

The Palm Beach Post says the new residency programs are being planned in coordination with the expansion of Florida Atlantic University's Miller School of Medicine. Miller opened a satellite campus in Boca Raton in 2005 and has been using the facilty for 3rd- and 4th-year students. Beginning in 2007, medical students will be able to take all four years of classes at the Boca Raton campus.

The hospitals planning to add residencies are:

Boca Raton Community Hospital
Delray Medical Center
JFK Medical Center (Atlantis, FL)
Bethesda Memorial Hospital (Boynton Beach, FL)
St. Mary's Medical Center (West Palm Beach)

The JFK Medical Center hopes to have 48 residents on staff, beginning in 2008. Bethesda Memorial Hospital and Boca Raton Community Hospital hope to have residents by 2o10 at the latest.

As many as 300 residency positions could be available in Palm Beach County by 2012, a Florida Atlantic University official said.

Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach currently has a small residency program in internal medicine and dermatology. Officials there say that about half of their residents decide to remain in the county and practice medicine after completing their residencies.

Source: "Local Hospitals Take on Task of Teaching," by Phil Galewitz. The Palm Beach Post, August 7, 2007.

Dartmouth Student-Run Clinic Wins AAMC Grant

2006-07-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

A free health clinic founded and run by Dartmouth medical students has won a grant from the American Association of Medical Colleges to expand its operations.

Dartmouth students used funding from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship program to establish the Mascoma Valley Free Health Clinic in 2003. Almost half of DMS' Class of 2008 volunteered at the clinic during their second year.

The AAMC grant will be used to expand primary care services at the Clinic, to increase health education programming, and to add essential pharmaceutical resources.

Dartmouth is one of eight medical schools to receive an AAMC Caring for Community Grant this year. The grants, which the AAMC awards to medical student community service programs, are also going to Emory; SUNY Downstate; Texas A&M; the University of Colorado; the University of Mississippi; the University of Wisconsin; and Cornell University's Weill Medical College.

Source: "Dartmouth Medical Students Awarded for Community Service Program," press release, Dartmouth Medical School (Hanover, NH), July 19, 2006

Penn Vice Dean Honored for Leadership in Medical Education

2006-07-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Dr. Gail Morrison, Vice Dean for Education and Director of the Office of Academic Programs at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2006 Daniel C. Tosteson Award for Leadership in Medical Education from the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research.

The Testeson Award honors educators who have brought about important improvements and innovations in medical education.

Dr. Morrison has led curriculum innovations at Penn's medical school for over 20 years. She designed and instituted Curriculum 2000® and Virtual Curriculum 2000®, an innovative approach to medical education meant to prepare physicians to practice medicine in changing technological, social, and institutional settings. Curriculum 2000® was introduced at Penn in 1998 and has led to marked gains in student performance. Other medical schools across the U.S. have since looked to Penn's program as a model of successful curriculum reform.

Dr. Morrison has also been a proponent for medical education improvement at the national level. She was one of the founding members of the Clerkship Directors of Internal Medicine and was recently made Chair of the AAMC's Medical Student Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee.

Source: "Dr. Gail Morrison Receives Award for Leadership in Medical Education" - news release, PENN Medicine, July 5, 2006

FSU Puts More Focus On Geriatrics Care

2006-07-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

The Florida State University College of Medicine will use a $2 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to expand its principles of geriatric care curriculum.

Dr. Lisa Granville, associate chair and professor in the college's department of geriatrics, told the Orlando Business Journal that the curriculum is valuable for all medical students, even those who do not plan to specialize in geriatrics. "The principals of care that we believe in are not unique or only supposed to be applied in older populations," she said. FSU's principles of geriatrics care curriculum, which starts from a student's first day of class, prepares doctors to work effectively with patients of any age.

Other educators have described geriatrics care as requiring a more holistic view of the patient's health than allopathic medical students are usually taught. Physicians have to consider potential drug interactions and broader quality of life issues in making decisions about patient care. They also have to consider familial, social, and economic factors that can affect the efficacy of a prescribed course of treatment. (For more information, see our March 28 post, ' Med Schools Focus on Geriatrics Training.')

Source: "FSU Medical School to Expand Geriatric Program" - the Orlando Business Journal, June 22, 2006

New OSU Dean Will Promote Cross-Disciplinary Research

2006-06-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

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

Stanford Students Present Research at Annual Symposium

2006-05-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

The number of students participating in the Stanford School of Medicine's annual Student Research Symposium has doubled over the past three years, Associate Dean for Medical Student Research and Scholarship Patricia Cross recently told the Stanford Report. This growing participation reflects both increasing student interest in research and appreciation for the quality of student work, Cross said.

Students made 33 presentations at this year's Symposium. Research projects addressed both medical innovations and the effects of health care system reforms. Specific topics included a study of how materials used in prosthetic limbs affect bone growth and a survey of Colombian women's awareness of the risks of congenital toxoplasmosis, a parasite linked to birth defects. A group of students taking a course on the practice of medicine also presented findings from their study of the impact of community outreach on health care.

The Symposium's first prize went to third-year student Jason Liauw for research confirming the identity of a specific protein responsible for speeding brain cell recovery after a stroke. The panel of medical students who judged entries gave Liauw's project high ratings on all four of the Symposium's criteria: significance of the research question, creativity, research design, and presentation of findings.

Pat Cross noted that about 90 per cent of Stanford medical students conduct some sort of research. A significant number of Stanford students take five years to complete their degrees in order to pursue research projects. Stanford provides broad support for medical student research, including grants for research work and travel, faculty mentoring, and opportunities to share findings, such as the annual Symposium.

Sources: "Not Just for Faculty: Medical Students Excel at Research," by Anne Pinckard - the Stanford Reporter, May 24, 2006

Cornell Graduates Class of 2006

2006-05-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Cornell University's Weill Medical College awarded 101 students with their M.D. degrees on May 18.

87 per cent of Weill's Class of 2006 have won places in postgraduate training programs at teaching hospitals. A Cornell press release says that these graduates "will do residency training or research in 19 different specialties at some of the most prestigious institutions across the country."

Members of the Class of 2006 combined their medical studies with a range of other interests. Almost 40 per cent of the students took part in one of the international programs that Weill sponsors in countries including Australia, Ecuador, Tanzania, Cambodia, India, Honduras, Nigeria, and Italy. 16 per cent took a year's leave from medical school to pursue research and other complementary career interests. Class members also took part in a wide range of community service projects including the Weill Cornell Community Clinic, a health-care service that the College provides for uninsured residents of New York City.

Source: "Internationally Minded and Socially Committed Class Receives Degree at Weill Cornell Medical College Commencement" - press release, Cornell University (New York City), May 18, 2006

AMCAS 2007 Up & Running

2006-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) website for 2007 applications to medical schools is now online. To register as a user and begin an application, go to the AMCAS home page (www.aamc.org/students/amcas/start.htm) and look for the "Apply Now!" link on the right-hand side of the page.

Florida Senate Clears Way for 2 New Medical Schools

2006-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Florida Senate has approved plans to establish two new state-supported medical schools, one at the Florida International University in Miami and one at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. The House is expected to pass the bill establishing the schools later this week.

Florida currently has four other schools of medicine. Some senators argued that it would be wiser to expand existing residency programs at those schools rather than to spend millions on establishing new institutions. Proponents of the schools, however, argued that new medical schools are a key element addressing the state's growing shortage of trained physicians.

The University of Central Florida hopes to be able to admit a first class of 40 M.D. students in 2008.

Source: "FIU Med School One of Two Approved," by Gary Fineout. The Miami Herald, May 2, 2006.

Community Service Is Essential in Med School Applications

2006-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Volunteer work is essential to gaining admissions to medical school, admissions staff from several well-regarded U.S. medical schools told a student reporter recently.

Stony Brook University student Erica Smith interviewed the assistant deans for admission at Michigan State, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Virginia, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York by phone. They all confirmed that community service is an important part of an application package.

"It’s a very negative flag" when an otherwise promising applicant shows no history of community involvement, University of Virginia assistant dean of admission Beth Bailey said.

Bailey said that pre-meds benefit most from volunteer service that puts them in contact with patients and caregivers. Clinics, nursing homes, and hospices are good places to look for volunteer activities that will make a medical school applicant stand out. Experience working behind-the-scenes, in pharmacies or in hospital administrative or support offices, is not as helpful.

Noreen Kerrigan, assistant dean of admisisons for Albert Einstein College, noted that students who must work to support themselves are judged by somewhat different standards. Fewer hours of community service are expected of working students, she said, although admissions committees still want to see evidence of service to others. "We just look for feeling, not hours."

Source: "Volunteering a Must for Med School," by Erica Smith - the Stony Brook Independent, May 1, 2006

Penn Students Participate in Penn-Botswana AIDS Project

2006-05-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

By the end of this academic year, over 40 students and residents from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will have taken part in the Penn-Botswana Program, which conducts clinical and educational activities to combat Botswana's AIDS epidemic.

The students and residents work in clinical programs at two of Botswana's largest hospitals, under the supervision of Penn faculty. Their service is part of the Penn-Botswana Program's mission to treat AIDS patients and to study and research AIDS in Botswana.

Penn faculty were recently awarded a $933,551 grant from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to support the program.

Harvey Friedman, MD, Director of the Penn-Botswana Program and Chief of Infectious Diseases at Penn, explained the importance of the program to Medical News Today. "Botswana is considered the test tube case in Africa regarding AIDS," Freidman said. "If we can't do something to turn around the epidemic in Botswana it would really be discouraging. This is one of the frontiers in HIV care."

For students and residents, Friedman said, the Penn-Botswana Program is "a once-in-a-lifetime experience....I am not surprised that, upon returning from Botswana, some students change their career goals."

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine supports 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students. It is regularly ranked as one of the top medical schools in the U.S. in terms of research.

Source: "Penn School of Medicine Awarded Nearly $1 Million for African AIDS Program." Medical News Today, May 1, 2006.

NYU Applications Down by 5.7%

2006-04-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

2006 application volume to the New York University School of Medicine is about 5.7 per cent lower than last year, the NYU campus paper reports.

Assistant dean of admissions Joanne McGrath told the Washington Square News that 7,572 applications were received for fall 2006 admission, compared to 8,027 the previous year.

The NYU School of Medicine enrolls 160 first-year students each year.

Source: "Grad School Applicants Not Affected by Strike," by Brittani Manzo - the Washington Square News, April 24, 2006

Rochester & Albany Focus on Geriatrics Training

2006-04-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

Health care managers see a 'wave' of demand on the horizon for physicians who know how to deal with the special needs of elderly patients -- and medical schools are scrambling to produce M.D.s with that expertise.

The number of Americans who are 85 or older is expected to have grown by 50 per cent between 2000 and 2010, according to a January 2006 report by the American College of Physicians. Doctors who understand the diseases and conditions that afflict older patients will be increasingly sought after. For example, geriatric specialists need to be especially sensitive to drug interactions, given the large number of prescriptions that many older Americans are on. They also need to be able to accept that the best course of action for a patient may be to ameliorate discomfort, rather than to seek a cure for an underlying condition.

To meet the growing demand for geriatric specialists, the American Board of Internal Medicine now requires internal medicine residents to gain at least one month's experience in geriatric care as part of their training.

A number of medical schools offer specialized geriatric care programs. Albany Medical College assigns residents in its family and community medicine program to follow nursing home residents during the last two years of their residencies. They conduct home visits in order to gain experience with giving care in residential and clinical settings, and learn about end-of-life issues such as hospice care and family mediation.

The University of Rochester School of Medicine has taken a different approach to encouraging residents to choose geriatrics by expanding its faculty in that field. The idea is to provide more interaction between residents and faculty in order to highlight the high degree of job satisfaction that geriatric specialists typically feel. Geriatricians tend to have the highest job satisfaction rating among U.S. physicians.

Source: "Medical Schools Try to Lure Students into Geriatric Studies," by JoAnne McFadden - the Business Courier (Cincinnati), April 21, 2006

Yale SOM Accepts 4.8% of '06 Applicants

2006-04-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Yale School of Medicine has accepted 4.8 per cent of its applicants for 2006 admission -- 176 applicants from a pool of 3,698. The School plans to enroll a class of approximately 100 students from those admits.

59 per cent of the 104 applicants who were offered admission are women, and roughly 30 per cent represent minorities.

The applicant pool included 151 current students and alumni of Yale. 32 of them were accepted. The head of the health professions advisory program at Yale's Undergraduate Career Services office told the Yale Daily News that a growing number of Yale undergrads are applying to medical school. Nationwide, medical school applications are up by about 4.6 per cent.

Richard Silverman, the SOM's Director of Admissions, noted that almost 60 per cent of the admitted students were not coming directly from an undergraduate program. Some who did apply during their senior year in college had requested a deferals to pursue fellowships or other opportunities. Silverman noted that the SOM now automatically grants a deferral to any accepted student who enters the Teach for America Program.

(Source: "Med School Admits 176, 59% Women," by Steven Siegel - the Yale Daily News, March 31, 2006

Med Schools Focus on Geriatrics Training - Approaches Differ

2006-03-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

"Medical Schools Use Different Approaches to Geriatrics Education"
By Anne Blank, Special to the Reporter
The AAMC Reporter, February 2006

When a newly graduated physician from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) first noticed changes in his grandmother's behavior, he recognized the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and quickly got her the medical care that she needed. Surprisingly, his specialty is not geriatrics but pediatrics.

Cathy Powers, M.D., associate professor of geriatrics and head of the education division in the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics at UAMS, tells this story to illustrate the success of a geriatrics program that she helped initiate.

"We know that out of our class of 150 medical students, we're not going to get 150 geriatricians," Powers said. "We stress to students who are going into different specialties how geriatrics will impact them."

With the first group of baby boomers approaching age 60, the need for qualified physicians trained in geriatrics is more pressing than ever before. An analysis of current trends indicates that during the next 10 years, people ages 55 to 64 will represent the fastest-growing sector of the adult population. By the year 2029, individuals born during the baby-boom years will reach age 65 or older. Between 1950 and 2004, this U.S. population group climbed from 12 million to 36 million people, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and is expected to continue to increase.

With today's medical advances, America's aging population will live longer after suffering from an acute disease, such as cancer, or be able to cope with a chronic disease, such as diabetes, for much longer than in the past.

The concern is that while the number of elderly people is increasing, the number of physicians going into geriatrics is not growing commensurately. In fact, as of 2002, the American Geriatrics Society identified only 9,000 practicing geriatricians in the United States.

"The main thing is that we've got a burgeoning need for people who are going to be able to put the problems of the elderly all together in a package, to be able to treat the whole person, and that we are desperately short of geriatricians in this country who can do that type of care," said Powers.

In continuing efforts to address this shortage of physicians trained in geriatrics, the AAMC joined forces with the John A. Hartford Foundation in 2000 to distribute to 40 medical schools more than $5 million earmarked for geriatrics training and education. In the six years since the Hartford grants were awarded, M. Brownell Anderson, senior associate vice president in the AAMC's Division of Medical Education, has noticed a definite increase among medical school graduates both in the level of exposure to and comfort with geriatrics, as indicated by their responses to the AAMC's annual Graduation Questionnaire.

"Our goal has been to ensure that students, regardless of the field that they are choosing, recognize that there are different approaches that must be taken with a mature patient, with an aging patient," Anderson said. "There are different social needs, there are different physical needs, there are different things that you have to think about in taking care of them that you may not if you're just approaching everybody like a healthy 35-year-old adult."...

Not all medical schools subscribe to the idea of a dedicated geriatrics clerkship. At the University of Michigan Medical School, the geriatrics curriculum is integrated into the four-year medical school program because the goal was not to increase the number of requirements in an already packed schedule but to reduce this number, said Jeffrey Halter, M.D., professor of internal medicine, chief of the division of geriatric medicine, and director of the Geriatrics Center and Institute of Gerontology.

"To add another requirement was somewhat in the face of our own school's look at curriculum reform," Halter said.

Since elderly patients often have chronic diseases, it is imperative that medical students spend more time with these patients than a one-month clerkship can provide, Halter said.

"Having someone come into a long-term care facility and get the two- and three- and four-week exposure, that's a pretty short length of time for someone who's in a process of care that is measured in at least weeks to months," Halter said.

Likewise, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has integrated its geriatrics curriculum across the whole four years of medical school. Although the university first started this process in 1992, it wasn't until 1999, with support from a Hartford grant and the AAMC, that the four-year integrated curriculum reached fruition, according to Steven Barczi, M.D., assistant professor at Madison VA Hospital, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, an affiliate of the University of Wisconsin, and director of the university's Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program and the Diamond Team Geriatric Medical Clinics.

One of the problems with traditional geriatrics training was that students weren't introduced to it early enough, Barczi said. During the first and second years of medical school, students spend most of their time in the classroom buried in books, with just a sampling of what it is like to interact with patients. In contrast, integrated geriatrics programs are not only allowing first- and second-year students to have contact with patients; they are encouraging it through mentoring programs that link students with senior citizens in their school's community.

"They really love that," Barczi said. "Any time they can have a chance to interact with a live body, a patient, rather than with a book in a lecture hall, they really get enthusiastic."

Powers agrees that there is a need for an integrated approach in geriatrics education, but says that the dedicated clerkship is imperative, as well. The one-month clerkship teaches students how to comprehensively treat the whole patient rather than one particular complication at a time, she said.

"To have a month dedicated to geriatrics gives students an appreciation of all the different problems that a geriatrics patient may have," Powers said. "If a patient is in cardiology, they're focusing on the heart, and not necessarily the attendant diabetes, or the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or the multiple other diseases that a lot of the elderly can have."

Case Reserve Med School Facing Financial Problems?

2006-03-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

"Case Squeezing Medical School, Dean Says"
By Regina McEnery
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 24, 2006

Less than a week after Case Western Reserve University President Edward Hundert abruptly resigned, the medical school's dean chastised the administration for undercutting pledged investments in the medical school and advised faculty and staff members of impending spending cuts.
In an eight-page e-mail sent Monday, Dr. Ralph Horwitz said the medical school will continue to make strategic investments but will take steps to reduce expenses in its administrative and academic units and defer or eliminate projects that are not critical to the school's mission or linked to faculty recruitment.
Horwitz said he had authorized spending millions to reform medical education, expand laboratories and recruit key faculty members in disciplines including cancer, cardiology and genetics since arriving from Yale University nearly three years ago.The expenditures were part of the medical school's campaign to improve its competitive edge and a key component of the university's ambitious Vision Investment Program, a five-year plan to funnel $181 million into undergraduate teaching, academic medicine, graduate research and other areas.
The university was to operate in the red until 2008, but the approach, and Hundert, came under fire when fund-raising efforts and federal research dollars that were supposed to erase the planned deficit fell short.
Horwitz said $57.5 million of the Vision program was dedicated to the medical school. He said he had understood the money to be a long overdue investment needed to restore the school's national reputation and competitiveness for research grants. Now, the university is treating it more like a loan, he said.
Before he arrived, Horwitz wrote, the medical school was losing key faculty members, driving away promising students and losing its competitive edge because of outmoded educational facilities, antiquated laboratories, decaying buildings and other problems....
Horwitz also took aim at disproportionate growth in Case's central administration expenses, particularly in fund raising and marketing, saying it contributed to the university's financial drain. Unresolved financial issues with University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case's longtime affiliate, over medical grants also are impeding the flow of revenue to the medical school, he said.

HMS News: 4.2% of '06 Applicants Accepted - Diversity Policy Changed

2006-03-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

"HMS Amends Admit Policy"
By LAURENCE H. M. HOLLAND
The Harvard Crimson, March 21, 2006

In a move that brings its admissions policies in line with the rest of the University, Harvard Medical School (HMS) will eliminate an admissions subcommittee dedicated to applicants from “under-represented minorities” next year, according to HMS administrators.

The announcement comes a week after HMS sent out admissions decisions to its incoming Class of 2010, and almost three years after the Supreme Court struck down the University of Michigan’s point-based undergraduate admissions policy in the cases of Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger.

HMS officials acknowledged that the policy shift came in response to fears that their system could be viewed as unconstitutional.

“It’s well-intentioned, but we’ve been told repeatedly by the University counsel and consultants for the University counsel that it is not a wise policy to maintain,” said Dr. Robert J. Mayer, faculty associate dean for admissions at HMS, yesterday....

According to Mayer, HMS started to review its affirmative action policy in late 2004.
Under the new system, minority applications will simply be flagged to ensure that at least one minority admissions officer evaluates the application and interviews the applicant, Poussaint said in an interview last Friday.

Mayer added that the change in the admissions process did not indicate a reduced commitment to diversity.

“There is absolutely no change in our commitment to diversity,” Mayer said. “If anything, it enhances the commitment to under-represented minorities.”

In his interview with The Crimson yesterday, Mayer also released statistics on the incoming Class of 2010, the last HMS class to be admitted under the old affirmative action policy.

According to Mayer, the acceptance rate at HMS remained steady this year at 4.2 percent. The school remains at the top of many students’ wish lists: Mayer said that the school’s haul of 4,683 applications meant that one of every seven medical school applicants in the country applied to Harvard. Minority applications were down slightly, but both Mayer and Poussaint said that the drop was well within standard deviations.