Pre-Clerkship

First Year Classes

Patient-Centered Medicine and Health Equity 1

The Patient-Centered Medicine and Health Equity course introduces learners to the profession with experiences in hospitals, outpatient clinics and community-based settings to allow hands-on practice of clinical skills and service to the community. It covers professionalism, medical ethics, humanism in medicine, patient-centered care, socioeconomic drivers of health, health disparities, health equity, communication with patients and families, clinical interviewing and examination skills, clinical reasoning skills, and health systems science. The course leads off the M1 year with a concentrated block and continues throughout the entire pre-clerkship phase. The course is aligned with and complements the basic and clinical sciences content with the “soft” and “hard” skills of patient care and prepares students with skillsets in critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and clinical competencies so they can succeed in the clerkship years.

Medical Evidence Discovery and Dissemination

Medical Evidence and Discovery and Dissemination begins as a one-week course during the first year that covers the foundations of biostatistics, epidemiology and evidence-based medicine, as well as provides learning activities on the types of research (e.g.,basic, translational, clinical and community based participatory research). After the first week, it spans the pre-clerkship curriculum as longitudinal experiential learning in small groups under the guidance of faculty research mentors. Students will learn how to conduct research by working independently in small groups to define a research question, form a protocol, learn ethical considerations in research, and then learn the skills of dissemination of science to peers and patients. Multiple faculty representing diverse disciplines and with different research expertise will support students throughout the threaded curriculum.

Community Engaged Service Learning 1

Community Engaged Service Learning provides students with structured guidance for implementing meaningful, effective, and sustainable service projects that address the needs of the communities that surround the campuses. In addition, service-learning experiences offer an invaluable opportunity for students to develop core skills in cultural competency, health education, patient advocacy, and community-engaged research and evaluation that will help develop them into leaders in the medical field and in the communities they serve.

Cells to Structure

The goal the Cells to Structure course is to provide students with an understanding of the scientific basis of medicine by integrating foundational concepts that span disciplines such as genetics, molecular and cellular biology, histology, embryology, and anatomy and how they relate to health and disease. Students will begin with exploring the molecular basis of genetic disorders, integrating cell structures and organization with function, and exploring the gross and developmental anatomy of the musculoskeletal, peripheral nervous, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and cardiopulmonary systems. Study will range from the cellular to gross anatomic levels, including dissection of the extremities, thorax, and abdomen of anatomical donors. These basic science topics will serve as the basis for discussion of common clinical topics that will be expanded in future courses.

Concepts in Biomedical Sciences

Concepts in Biomedical Sciences continues the story of foundational topics related to the field of medicine by covering the fundamental knowledge and key basic science/pathophysiologic concepts needed by physicians to make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions for patients presenting with programs in any organ system. This course covers the content areas of pharmacology, immunology, and the etiologic basis of infectious diseases.

Musculoskeletal, Skin and Hematologic Systems

The Musculoskeletal, Skin, and Hematologic Systems course serves as the first integrated systems-based course of the preclinical curriculum, which, along with the other system courses, reviews and expands on the content taught in Cells to Structure and Concepts in Biomedical Sciences as it relates to the musculoskeletal, integumentary, and hematologic systems. The course will include discussions of related common pathologies and their medical management. Additionally, this course will introduce rheumatologic diseases, toxicology, and environmental exposures.

Cardiovascular System

The Cardiovascular Systems Course focuses on discussion of common presenting symptoms and physical findings characteristic of the cardiac and vascular organ systems. The course will cover risk factors for disease as well as pathophysiology, pathology, diagnostic and treatment strategies for many diseases which affect the cardiovascular system. The overarching goal of this course is to demonstrate the interdependence of the heart and vascular systems and the importance of each in human health and disease, presenting key features for each disease and medications that are commonly used to treat them, with emphasis on their mechanisms of action, other organ system effects, and major toxicities. Students will leave the course with a mastery of electrophysiology, cardiac and smooth muscle physiology, and several other structure-function relationships, from the molecular-cellular level, through development and tothe gross anatomical level.

Pulmonary System

The Pulmonary System course continues students’ journey through the medical sciences to providing a solid foundation of knowledge about common diseases and congenital defects of the pulmonary system, including the risk factors, pathophysiology, pathology, diagnostic tools, and treatment strategies.

Renal System

The Renal System course provides a solid foundation of knowledge regarding renal physiology and pathophysiology, common disorders of renal tubular function that disrupt systemic water, electrolyte, and acid-base homeostasis. Additionally, this course will explore congenital disorders and tumors related to the kidney, ureters, and bladder. As the last course of the first year of the curriculum, this course will build and connect to the previous system courses as students continue to build an integrated vision of the human body.