Medical students have donned their short white coats and stethoscopes on the first day of class at University of Michigan Medical School (UM) since 1850, but this year’s medical class will experience learning in a completely different way from their predecessors. Here’s the latest on UM’s new curriculum and how the school plans to immerse students in health care systems, illuminating the patient experience starting in the students’ first semester.
UM is one of 11 founding members of the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium working arduously to launch innovative projects that will transform medical student education. The $1 million grants from the AMA have funded projects and solution-driven workshops aimed at allowing educators and students to discuss medical education innovations in collaborative settings—and their efforts are paying off.
“This is such an exciting milestone in the long history of our medical school,” said Rajesh Mangrulkar, MD, associate dean for medical student education at UM. “As our next cohort of medical students come to study with us, they will experience a new set of courses and a new direction in our curriculum, as well as an exciting, transformed space to help support their learning.”
Dr. Mangrulkar and Joseph Kolars, MD, senior associate dean for education and global initiatives at UM, have led a team of more than 300 faculty and students for more than two years to develop the new curricular model.
The new curriculum lets students:
- Choose from the school’s expanding Paths of Excellence, which includes various curricular focus areas for students to explore their passions in ethics, health policy, global health, medical humanities and scientific discovery.
- Participate in new activities that allow them to learn from and collaborate with students enrolled in UM’s other health professions schools, including nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, kinesiology and social work.
- Become members of four new houses within M-Home—the learning community that UM recently launched to build ties among classmates, members of other class years, and dedicated faculty advisors and coaches—as a way of fostering their learning and professional development.
“Our goal for our educational program for these students continues to be centered on having an impact on patients and their health, while here at medical school and throughout their career,” Dr. Mangrulkar said.
More about UM and the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative:
- Review additional highlights of UM’s inventive curriculum.
- Check out UM’s creative approach to producing physician leaders.
- Learn about the 11 medical schools in the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium, the current projects they have underway and why the consortium is expanding.
