The spring 2013 issue of Columbia Medicine highlights Columbia’s new curriculum that requires that all non-dual degree medical students participate in a 4 month scholarly project under the direction of a faculty mentor (“Inaugural Scholarly Projects: From Malnutrition in Madagascar to a Primer on Dominican Culture Close to Home,” pages 26-31). Students taking an entire year off for research (and delaying graduation from medical school) are also exempt from this requirement. Under these new academic guidelines, students may select projects from 6 identified research tracks: basic science, clinical research, global health, narrative and social medicine, medical education, or population health. All participating students must submit a written report, which is evaluated according to standards established in the specific track. The Columbia P&S Medical School Class of 2013 were the first students required to participate. It will be interesting to see how the entire class at Columbia evaluates this new educational experience, and hopefully educational research about this topic will be available soon. How will this new curriculum impact Columbia students and others? Will Columbia Medical School admissions become more focused on identifying applicants with a proven undergraduate (and possibly graduate school) track record of successful research due to this requirement? Will this type of research training in medical school advantage Columbia medical students in their relative competitiveness for residency positions? Columbia is already widely recognized as providing a highly rated and innovative medical education, and it will also be interesting to see if other prestigious medical schools across the country adopt the new Columbia required research curriculum for their medical students. Will any Texas medical schools follow Columbia’s lead? UTMB has a similar program (Research Honors Project), but currently it is entirely voluntary and not required. Relatively few UTMB medical students currently participate.
The University of Texas Medical Branch Dermatology Interest Group (UTMB DIG) is a resource for medical students interested in Dermatology as well as for dermatologists and residents.
Editors
Current Editors: Jane Onyemachi and Madelyn Schmidt
(Please email editors if there is blog-worthy news that you would like to see shared)
Past Editors: Fareen Momin, Andrea Francis, Renat Ahatov, Michael Phan, Elise Weisert, Michael Ryan, Keith Wagner, Tim Allen, Kristyna Gleghorn, Dung Mac, Alex Acosta, William Tausend, Sheila Jalalat, Rebecca Philips, Chelsea Altinger, Lindsey Hunter, Alison Wiesenthal, Leslie Scroggins, Mara Dacso, Ashley Group, Fadi Constantine, Emily Fridlington, Joslyn Witherspoon, Tasneem Poonawalla.