The University at Buffalo has welcomed its largest-ever medical school class for a new semester. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says UB is calling this a "milestone".

WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says UB is welcoming it's largest-ever medical school class.

"We have increased our class size from 144 to 180, so it's a pretty big jump, remarked David Milling, associate professor of Medicine.

Milling is very excited about a new class of medical students. Their "white coat" ceremony took place on Friday where students attended the official "calling of the class", taking an Oath of Medicine to begin their medical school journey in Buffalo.

Milling told WBFO News among the reasons why the school was able to boost its enrollment includes a brand new UB Medical School that will soon open in downtown Buffalo.

With new space that can accommodate them, increase class sizes so a perfect opportunity for us to do this. Workforce issues in our area and outside of our area as well, noted Milling.

Of those new 180 medical students, a majority are from New York State and 78 are from Western New York. 40 received their undergraduate degree at UB.

Yes, I think that is important. We are a state school and part of our mission is to train our local young folks who are interested in medicine, both in the Buffalo area the eight counties surrounding us and New York State in general, Milling explained.

Despite the difficult studies these students have ahead of them, Milling noted they have very few students who drop out in the first year. He speculates that they may lose one or two students.

This is a rigorous process to get students into medical school. Certainly, that doesnt mean that everyone who comes in should become a physician, but we do try to make sure that we support our students as best we can once they are matriculated, replied Milling.

UB medical students also participate in work in the local community, volunteering at Hospice, food pantries or assisting with suicide hotlines. In past years, students have conducted cancer, geriatrics and diabetes research.

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Dean Olsen Staff Writer @deanolsenSJR

Expanding a program that cultivates high school students interest in the medical profession and helping future doctors avoid unconscious bias are among the goals of a new associate dean at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

This job will give me the opportunity to be a collaborator, a change agent, Dr. Wendi Wills El-Amin said.

Wills El-Amin, 46, a family medicine physician, began her new role Aug. 1 as associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion. She previously was an academic strategist in SIUs department of medical education and treated patients through the department of family medicine.

The Springfield resident succeeded Dr. Wesley Robinson McNeese, who helped launch SIUs office of diversity, multicultural and minority affairs in 2001.

McNeese, 69, who is African-American, is a Christian minister who pastors a Springfield church. He has been hired to work part-time on diversity initiatives throughout the SIU system, including the campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville.

Wills El-Amin, who also is African American, was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Houston, Texas. She said she will take on McNeeses role of mentoring minority medical students. Among other duties, she also will oversee the Physician Pipeline Preparatory Program, or P4, which McNeese founded in 2009.

The P4 program enrolls Springfield-area high school students interested in potential careers as doctors. The after-school program provides mentors and exposure to the medical field.

Wills El-Amin said she would like to expand the program so parts of it reach students in the elementary and middle-school grades. Many of these young people would benefit from learning that a career as a doctor is a possibility, she said.

Wills El-Amin said her most influential teacher was in third grade a woman she knows today as Mrs. Creole.

She was the teacher who really made me believe I had a lot of potential, El-Amin said.

McNeese and Wills El-Amin come from different backgrounds.

McNeese said he grew up very poor in East St. Louis. He was salutatorian of his high school class and served in the Air Force in Vietnam before working as a journalist in East St. Louis and a paramedic.

He enrolled at Illinois State University at age 30 and later took part in SIUs Medical/Dental Education Preparatory Program (MEDPREP) before earning his medical degree at SIU and working a decade as an emergency room doctor. He now is a father of four. His new title with SIU will be system executive director for diversity initiatives.

Since McNeese began his work on diversity at SIU, the school has definitely made strides in the percentage of minority students enrolling and graduating as doctors, he said.

SIU currently ranks in the top 3 percent to 4 percent of medical schools nationwide when it comes to the percentage of black students graduating, he said, though the share of doctors who are black nationwide 4 percent remains low.

The P4 program, which has served many students who are minorities since its inception, could produce medical students for SIU eventually, McNeese said.

Its a grow-your-own type of idea, he said.

Wills El-Amin, the mother of three girls, grew up the daughter of an internal-medicine physician, but like McNeese, she said she experienced racism as she grew up and as a professional.

She earned a bachelors degree from Hampton University in Virginia and a medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before completing a family medicine residency at the University of Texas at Houston.

She joined SIU in 2013 and before that was director of the University of Virginias cancer center disparity initiative and the outreach center on health disparities. She is chairwoman of the womens health section for the National Medical Association, an organization of African American doctors.

Wills El-Amin said she will work to help all SIU medical students, minority and non-minority, understand how the health of their patients can be influenced by factors outside the exam room. Those factors, known as the social determinants of health, can include poverty, education and crime.

She said she also wants to equip medical students with tools to avoid burnout a common problem among the ranks of physicians. Im very invested in cultivating resiliency, she said.

Unconscious biases can shape the way doctors interact with patients, Wills El-Amin said. She said she plans to use data on those biases to shape the curriculum for medical students and create a different approach when theyre dealing with their patients.

The medical schools staff already has received some training on eliminating institutional racism. That training will continue and will promote equitable treatment regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, Wills El-Amin said.

My approach is more of how to teach people cultural humility, she said.

Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean and provost of the medical school, said McNeese has done an excellent job for the school. Kruse said Wills El-Amin is an accomplished medical educator. She has a focus in her heart on the students.

Wills El-Amins annual salary as associate dean will be $210,000. The salary for McNeeses salary for his new job was unavailable. His salary as a medical school associate dean was $210,000, according to SIU officials.

Contact Dean Olsen: dean.olsen@sj-r.com, 788-1543, twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

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SIU med school administrator to expand diversity promotion efforts - The State Journal-Register

BBC News

Medical school places to increase next year - BBC News BBC News An extra 500 medical school places in England have been confirmed for next year by the government. The Department of Health announced in October it ... Doctors Aren't Too Excited About The Government's Plans To Increase Medical School PlacesBuzzFeed News all 20 news articles »

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Medical school places to increase next year - BBC News - BBC News

Not all enrollment trends at the University of Missouri-Columbia are down the medical school has increased its class size by one-third this year.

The expansion, to a class of 128 from 96, is aimed at addressing a looming physician shortage created by an aging population. Most of Missouri is considered to have a shortage of health professionals, particularly rural parts of the state. The state needs an additional 367 doctors to accommodate its population, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.

In 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended medical schools increase their enrollments by 30 percent in the following decade. The same year, St. Louis University increased the number of first-year students to 175 from 150, making it the largest medical school in the state.

Washington Universitys medical school enrollment has stayed between 120 and 124 students per class. There are no plans to increase the size of the class, which is partly influenced by the number of faculty and available space, according to the dean of admissions.

Mizzou started looking at expanding its class size soon after the 2006 recommendations, said Weldon Webb, an associate dean.

Were the No. 1 provider of practicing physicians in Missouri, so if somebody was going to increase, it should probably be Columbia, he said.

The expansion of the medical school includes a new $42.5 million classroom and laboratory building on the Columbia campus. A clinical campus opened last year in Springfield where some third- and fourth-year students train, aided by a partnership with CoxHealth and Mercy hospitals. About 44 percent of the medical schools students stay in Missouri after graduation, Webb said.

The growth of the medical school contrasts with undergraduate enrollment in Columbia, which dropped by about 14 percent this fall. The incoming class of about 4,000 freshmen is the smallest in nearly 20 years.

Reports of racism and a lack of diversity at Mizzou contributed to the drop in undergraduate enrollment and have also caused troubles for the medical school.

The medical schools credentials are at risk if it doesnt train more minority doctors, according to a 2016 report from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting organization for U.S. medical schools. The committee previously cited the school for its lack of diversity in 2001 and 2008.

The committees most recent recommendations give the school until 2018 to increase the number of black, Hispanic and Native American medical students, among other requirements.

Last year, less than 4 percent of Mizzous medical students belonged to one of the three underrepresented minority groups, according to national data. In the incoming class, 9 percent of students identify as black, Hispanic or Native American, school officials said.

The increased diversity of the incoming class tops St. Louis University, where 7 percent of medical students are in the three minority groups. The accrediting body placed SLUs medical school on a two-year probation in February in part for its problems recruiting and retaining low-income and first-generation students.

Washington Universitys rate of underrepresented minority medical students is 9 percent. University of Missouri-Kansas City has the states most diverse medical student body, with 12 percent.

Ebony Page of St. Louis joined Mizzous class of 2021 because of the medical schools growth and the opportunities to work in underserved communities after graduation, she said.

For me, growing up in the inner city and knowing the health disparities, a lot of it has to do with access to care, said Page, 27. To see the shortage firsthand made it important to go to an institution where it was important to them.

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Mizzou medical school will produce more doctors to address shortage - STLtoday.com

David Rush was interviewed by Josh Hauser, MD.

Hip-hop artist and motivational speaker David Rush kicked off the first day of medical school for Feinbergs Class of 2021, discussing his experience with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a life-threatening kidney condition that eventually forced him onto dialysis.

Rush was interviewed onstage by Josh Hauser, MD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicineand of Medical Education, as part of Feinbergs first-week curriculum, called Introduction to the Profession.

According to Rush, the first signs of trouble appeared when he was in 10th grade, during a school-mandated physical for football. High protein levels indicated poor kidney function and he was prescribed medication, which he took throughout high school. But when Rush moved to Georgia to attend the Art Institute of Atlanta, he left his self-care at home in New Jersey.

I forgot about the medical side living away from your parents and your doctors, youre not really thinking about what your blood pressure is or what your creatinine levels are, Rush said. Youre thinking, How much is Wendys again?

It wasnt until Rush underwent a physical at the urging of a friend that he discovered just how poorly his kidneys were functioning. His doctors told him he needed to start dialysis or he could die within a year. Still, Rush delayed starting the treatment. After 10 months had elapsed without treatment, Rush was discovered passed out in his sisters apartment.

He woke up in the emergency room, connected to a dialysis machine.

It was scary, I didnt want to be there, Rush said. But thats how I started dialysis.

These days, Rush spends three hours a day hooked up to a dialysis machine. While it can make him feel like hes pressed for time, he said, its also given him insight into how much patients sacrifice to receive medical care.

Patients time is taken the time they spend at hospitals, the time they spend in doctors offices and the time they spend on treatment, he said. So when youre seeing patients, you have to think about how theyre spending their time. When they finally see you it may be the seventh hour theyve been spending on this. They might come in a little edgy, but were not mad at you, but we need you to understand us.

First-year medical student Balaji Veluswamy said he appreciated hearing about Rushs experience. I havent heard that perspective before: the point of view of a patient who had time taken away from them. The patient is who you learn from the most. I find that fascinating.

Introduction to the Profession week familiarizes students with the roles of medical student and physician, connecting them to the competencies that constitute the core of the Feinberg curriculum. These competencies include ethics, teamwork, communication, patient-centered care, quality improvement, and personal awareness and self-care.

The first week also serves as an opportunity for medical students to learn about the informal curriculum the attitudes and values conveyed by Feinberg education practices and culture.

I like to think of it as the things that happen before and after class, on your way to class, and when youre talking to friends and colleagues, Hauser said. When I look back on my time as a medical student, those things are every bit as important as the more explicit goals.

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Med School Curriculum Kicks Off With a Patient's Story - Northwestern University NewsCenter

BUFFALO, N.Y. They volunteer at food pantries and suicide hotlines, work with the homeless and refugees, and assist at hospice and Meals on Wheels. Theyve done research on cancer, diabetes and geriatrics, and worked on medical missions all over the globe.

They are the 180 students of the Class of 2021 at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. Today, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m., they will receive their white coats at a ceremony in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus.

Best time for photos: Students will begin to be coated at approximately 3:30 p.m. For press arrangements, contact Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of University Communications at 716-645-4605 or 716-771-9255 and on-site.

For each student who will be coated, the ceremony is a personal milestone, said Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

But this years white coat ceremony is also an institutional milestone, Cain added. Today, we officially welcome to UB its largest-ever medical school class, 180 students, up from 144.

That expansion, which he called a necessity to help fill the physician shortage in the region and in the nation, was only made possible by the construction of the new downtown home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Students will begin classes in the new building in January after spending their first semester on the South Campus.

Of the 180 students, 152 are from New York State, 78 are from Western New York and 40 earned their undergraduate degrees from UB.

At the ceremony, all 180 medical students will take the Oath of Medicine. During the "calling of the class," students will be called to the stage individually to be presented with their coat while their undergraduate institution and hometown is identified by Charles M. Severin, MD, PhD, UB associate dean for medical education and admissions.

The keynote address will be given by Robert H. Ablove, MD, clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics. The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award will be presented to Lynn Steinbrenner, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and chief of the Oncology Section at the Veterans Administration WNY Healthcare System.

The white coat ceremony is a symbolic rite of passage shared by medical students across the U.S. to establish a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine.

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Media Advisory: White coat ceremony for UB's largest-ever medical school class marks institutional milestone - UB News Center

Two years ago, the brother of actress Mindy Kaling published a confessional book describing how he posed as an African-American in order to gain admission into medical schools whose rigorous academic standards made his acceptance as an Indian-American virtually impossible. With affirmative action back in the news recently thanks to a (misreported) New York Times story about the Trump Justice Department potentially investigating claims of discrimination against whites (in truth, the possible inquiry was about alleged unfair treatment of Asian students), Vijay Chokal-Ingam appeared on CNN to discuss his experience. After summarizing how he overcame a subpar GPA by presenting himself as black, "JoJo" ripped affirmative action as codified racism and said he hopes President Trump will put an end to the practice, which he provocatively compared to Lincoln's abolition of slavery:

Trump has actually supported affirmative action policies, but Chokal-Ingam reasons that the president's conservative judicial picks and DOJ will undermine and eventually kill off what he calls legalized racial discrimination. Reacting to the news that for the first time ever, a slim majority of Harvard's incoming freshman class identifies as non-white, Chokal-Ingam expressed skepticism over the statistic. Borrowing Trump's famous (and deserved) derisive nickname for Elizabeth Warren, he cited the "Pocahontas factor," speculating that some significant number of students likely laid claim to dubious racial statuses in order to increase their chances of getting into the prestigious university.

On the question of race-based affirmative action vis-a-vis college admissions or corporate hiring, I have long abhorred the current regime -- which was once much more defensible -- as outmoded and unjust. Why should a wealthy Latino student from Beverly Hills or an affluent black student from Greenwich receive special advantages over a dirt poor white kid from Appalachia, whose family has been ravaged by the opioid epidemic? And why is it okay to make things substantially harder for some people of color (Asians) than others? Reaching these decisions based on skin color is antithetical to Martin Luther King's dream of a colorblind society. Race-based affirmative action should be stamped out; socio-economic affirmative action should replace it. It's simply undeniable that advantaged students from well-to-do communities have many more resources available to them than their underserved peers, creating a systemically uneven playing field. Offering a leg up to applicants who hail from from substantially less privileged families or communities is fair. I'd add that diversity of experience and thought are more valuable and enriching than "diversity" as defined purely by skin color. Plus, it's likely that a ripple effect of socio-economic affirmative action would also encourage some racial diversification, so long as certain communities remain disproportionately disadvantaged.

I'll leave you with this statistic, via Gallup last summer. While many in the media freaked out over the Times' misleading report, most Americans would be quite pleased to see racial presences and factors banished from the college admissions process -- including a majority of blacks and a super-majority of Hispanics:

In total, fully 70 percent of Americans believe race should not be a factor in admissions decisions, favoring a "merit only" rubric. As ever, the elite media and their liberal social circles are extraordinarily out of touch with much of America.

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Watch: Dude Who Pretended to be Black to Get Into Medical School Wants Trump to Abolish Affirmative Action - Townhall

Former Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley says Nevada can't afford two publicmedical schools. And with UNLV's new school starting this year, UNR's school should be shut down.

"We spend $60 milliona biennium to keep UNR's medical school going," Berkley told Nevada Public Radio. She is the CEO and senior provost at Touro University/Western Division, an osteopathic medical school in Henderson. "I dont think this state will want to sustain two medical schools.

Berkley joined Barbara Atkinson, dean of UNLV's new medical school, and Renee Coffman, co-founder and president of Roseman University of Health Sciences, to talk about the health care needs in Southern Nevada.

All three schools expect to churn out more doctors but that won't necessarily mean Nevada will get those doctors. Often graduating physicians stay in the cities where they do their residencies, which comes after medical school.

The number of residencies at different hospitals in southern Nevada is still relatively small, so many of the medical school students here will move to other states after graduation.

"Without any local residencies for these medical school graduates to go to basically what we would be doing is just exporting our graduates to other states to do their residencies," Heidi Kyser, staff writer for Desert Companion said.

Kyser interviewed the three women for an article in the August issue of the magazine. She said part of the problem is that residency programs are expensive. They are often funded by federal grants.

"The process for getting that funding is really complicated," Kyser explained, "And most of Nevada's hospitals have already hit the limit of that funding and the number of physicians they can get."

In Las Vegas, University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital, and the VA hospital have had the bulk of the residency programs but more private hospitals are opening residencies.

As for the idea of closing the medical school at UNR, Kyser talked to Thomas Schwenk, the dean of that medical school, he told her he believes all the citizens of the state of Nevada deserve access to all the benefits that public medical school brings to a community not just those in the southern part of the state.

According to the three women interviewed, one of the biggest benefits would be employment and not just for new doctors trained at their facilities.

"We focus on health professions, like Shelley does at Touro, they have jobs when they get out," said Renee Coffman with Roseman University of Health Services, "So, as a prospective student that's a tremendous return on investment for your educational dollars."

Berkley added that for the 10 to 20 years health care will be where all the jobs are.

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Shelley Berkley: UNR's Med School Should Close Its Doors - KNPR

MARTINSVILLEAs of now, theres no payment plan in place, to repay the $800,000 grant given to fund the College of Henricopolis School of Medicine. While discussions have taken place, Martinsville officials said on Tuesday they would like an official written statement from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, making it clear the group expects the city to repay the money.

The city and (its) staff are in close communications with, and closely following deliberations by, the tobacco commission regarding the TROF grant, Martinsville Mayor Gene Teague said during Tuesday nights council meeting.

But as of this time, there has been no official communication from the tobacco commission regarding the citys obligation to repayment, nor has a repayment schedule been worked out or communicated, he said.

In late 2014, the city and Dr. Noel Boaz signed a performance agreement to receive the commissions grant. Listed as the grantee, the city accepted responsibility for the money, which it then turned over to Boaz to help establish the College of Henricopolis School of Medicine.

That school still has not opened for students. In addition, the facility did not meet certain benchmarks by the halfway point of the 36-month grant, as was required. In January, school officials received an extension from the commission, but that decision was reversed in May, after the school changed from a for-profit concept to a nonprofit institution.

Commission officials have said that TROF grants are intended for projects designed to increase the tax base in communities, and the commission would not have awarded the medical school the $800,000 grant if the school had stated in its original application that it is a nonprofit entity.

We will be communicating with Dr. Boaz in the coming weeks regarding the project, his ability to repay any or all of the grant and then, of course, the citys next course of action, Teague said.

Both verbally and in a written letter to the commission, Boaz has stated his organization, the Integrative Centers for Science and Medicine, cannot afford to repay the grant. Also, officials with the medical school have said they think the grant should not have to be repaid because the commission should consider the money as an investment in the school. Over the last two months, the city council made statements in open session that they wanted to speak with Boaz, however, he claims that no one has reached out to him to make it happen.

Teagues remarks were brief. He said they were essentially what we (the council) said back in May after the commission decided to require that the grant be returned.

He commented in response to recent media reports about the issue, he said.

We want to make sure everybody understands were still working on it, Teague said, referring to handling the matter. We have not stopped working on it, even though we dont talk about it publicly as often as I think some folks would like.

Where it stands

When the commission asks for a grant to be returned, the standard practice in a case like this is to turn first toward the company involved. The commission did that, writing to Boaz and asking him to return the funds. He responded in July, stating that he didnt have the money and didnt feel his organization, which has struggled to raise more than $180,000 in the last two years, would be able to collect it.

Again, as per state policy, once the commission received that letter, the company automatically gets a 30-day extension. The last response from the commission to Boaz went out on July 31, meaning it will be at least Aug. 31 before any official notification is sent to the city.

If Boazs time runs out and he has not responded, we will assume that he is unable to pay and will send an official request to the City, said Jordan Butler, the commissions public relations coordinator. It is fair to say that we have not officially made a request of the city just yet, but we are in touch with them.

Speaking from the floor during the council meeting, city resident Ural Harris called for the council to ask the Virginia State Police, or the state itself, to investigate how money put toward the medical school project and especially the TROF grant has been spent.

Theres no telling how many people have given money to this school, or signed for money for it, said Harris, a former council candidate who is on the Martinsville Planning Commission. I think they deserve an answer to where its (the money) been.

A lot of people did put money in this (project) and was fleeced, I think, he continued.

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Talks continue on medical school payback | News ... - Martinsville Bulletin

by: Jamie Holmes Updated: Aug 8, 2017 - 6:45 PM

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - In 2015, more than 500 people died in Orlando from prescription drug overdoses, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Most of those cases started with a visit to a doctor's office and a prescription turned into an addiction.

University of Central Floridas medical school is now changing how it educates its future doctors and it's a plan going nationwide.

Future doctors at the university will not only learn what to do to help a patient, but will also learn what not to give them.

Read: UCF breaks ground on downtown Orlando campus

Dr. Martin Klapheke, the assistant dean of UCFs medical school, said students will learn how to do a little more research on their patients history.

The school has changed its curriculum to add much more focus on opioids.

Future doctors including Christopher Schow will take classes on how to better identify addicts and when to recommend non-narcotic options, such as physical therapy and acupuncture.

And they'll have to study much more of their patient's history.

For Schow, its personal.

The second-year student lost his mother to an Oxycontin overdose when he was 14 years old.

"I want to be a better doctor. I want to lift up the entire profession as much as I can personally, to make us all do better, he said.

And doctors historically are partially to blame.

Read: UCF unveils mural of 2 Knights killed in Pulse nightclub shooting

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 75 percent of heroin users got their start because they were first hooked to prescription opioids.

For physicians of previous generations, it was just about stopping the pain.

"I went to med school a long time ago. And back then, I got a lot more training on antibiotics than I did on how to use opioids," said Klapheke.

But for Schow, it will largely be about knowing your patient better so that hell know when to prescribe something that isnt a pill.

Its a lesson he learned before medical school.

"Make sure you're keeping up with them. Know what's going on in their life. If that happened for my mom, she would have gotten help, he said.

At the end of the month, UCF will publish some of its curriculum nationwide for other medical schools to use.

Last year, the assistant dean of the school was in Washington, D.C., working with federal health officials on how to develop a national plan for all medical schools to address the opioid crisis.

2017 Cox Media Group.

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Bernard P. Lane had a full, rich, productive life in teaching, medical research, public service, music and raising a family on Long Island.

Lane, known as Bernie, was a founding faculty member of the medical school at Stony Brook University, his family and associates say, as well as a professor of pathology there who authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific research papers; was a former president of the faculty senate; head of a number of university, state and national medical organizations; an expert trumpet player; and a devoted family man.

Lane, of Setauket, died July 5 at home after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 79.

A native of Brooklyn, Lane received an undergraduate degree from Brown University, a medical degree from New York University and a master of science degree in management from Stony Brook in 1992.

As a professor of pathology, Lane taught at Stony Brook from 1971 until he retired in 2014. Before coming to Stony Brook, he taught for several years at New York University Medical School.

Lane was director of the pathology residence program for 25 years, mentoring scores of pathologists who have gone on to positions in hospitals and academic medical centers both locally and nationally, his wife, Dorothy Lane, associate dean for Continuing Medical Education at Stony Brook, said in a statement. The couple were married 53 years.

He was also director of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory and the founding chairman of the board of directors of the Clinical Management Plan at Stony Brook University Hospital.

Outside of the university on Long Island, Lane was at times president of the Suffolk County Medical Society, the Suffolk County Pathology Society and the Long Island Division of the American Cancer Society.

Nationally, he was chairman of the National Group on Faculty Practice of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In the early days of the medical school, Lane felt rewarded by the pioneering spirit of these first students . . . and by the successes of the thousands he taught in the decades that followed, his wife said.

In addition to his extensive medical and public service, Lane also had time for his family and for cultural life on Long Island.

Lane greatly enjoyed raising a family on Long Island, spending countless hours at West Meadow Beach [in Stony Brook] and making day trips to South Shore beaches in the summers, his wife wrote. He also regularly attended concerts and theatrical performances at Stony Brook, Bellport and Westbury, she said.

My Dad enjoyed many things in life, recalled his daughter, Erika Neil, of Chantilly, Virginia, in remarks prepared for his funeral service. He was a gifted trumpet player who loved music. I have fond memories of him playing Herb Alpert on the record player, and of him playing trumpet while I accompanied him on the piano.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Lane is survived by two sons: Andrew Lane of Baltimore and Matthew Lane of Los Angeles; and four grandchildren.

A graveside funeral service was held July 7 at Washington Memorial Park Cemetery in Mt. Sinai. In lieu of flowers, his family requested that donations be made either to the Stony Brook Cancer Center or the American Cancer Society.

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The victim, a 20-something-year-old woman, is found outside a bar after being attacked. When she arrives by car at the hospital emergency room, she appears woozy, has very low blood pressure, and her heart and respiratory rates are both well above normal. She could die if her injuries arent diagnosed quickly and accurately.

The good news not just for this victim but for all Nevadans is that this battery case was feigned for the benefit of a class of graduate student-resident physicians attending a UNLV School of Medicine course on trauma assessment.

Their instructor, Dr. Deborah Kuhls, a highly respected trauma surgeon at University Medical Center and a UNLV professor, said she feels privileged to be leading the class.

I had great teachers, and I want to teach what Ive learned to others, she said. I want to pass it on.

While the schools initial freshman class of 60 students has received most of the attention during its brief existence, the nearly 300 graduate medical students attending UNLV are expected to make a more immediate impact on the states shortage of trained physicians. State officials are counting on many of them staying in Nevada, which ranks 48th in the nation per capita for physicians across all specialties and 50th for primary-care physicians.

Training with the best

The doctors who attended the July 30 class at the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas, which sits off Shadow Lane just across from UMC Medical Center and Valley Hospital, are mostly recent medical school graduates from around the country taking graduate courses in emergency medicine and general surgery. They also see patients at UMC during their supervised clinical training.

Dr. Nick Schulack, who attended medical school in Oregon, said he decided to take his three-year graduate emergency medicine training at UNLV because of the clinical training at UMCs trauma center. The center is renowned nationally, with National Trauma Data Bank statistics showing that while many people arrive with less than a 1 percent chance to live, an amazing 96 percent survive.

I want to work with, and be trained by, the best, Schulack said before the class began.

Kuhls began the demonstration by letting the class know that the assault scenarios fictitious hospital has a surgeon, but it isnt like UMC, with its huge trauma center and wide assortment of specialists available 24 hours a day. It sounds more like one of the hospitals found in Nevadas small, rural towns, which have long been difficult to staff.

After she reads off the victims vital signs, student-resident physicians Lian Farino and Schulack volunteer to assess the patient.

Where does it hurt? Farino asks the victim, who appears to be swaying as she stands in front of the room.

There is no answer and soon, Gigi Perez, a young actress wearing makeup to look as if shes been stabbed, appears to faint. Farino and Schulack place her on a table at the head of the class.

Can you wiggle your fingers and toes? Farino asks.

Again, no answer.

A crucial realization

Farino, playing the lead physician, tells Kuhls the patient needs IV fluids and blood and a chest tube insertion to help her breathe. Bleeding must be stopped in the thorax or chest area, where the stab wound was discovered.

After Kuhls reveals that fluid is leaking from the patients nose and ears and she has dilated pupils, Farino says it appears the patient has a brain injury.

Farino declares that once the hospital surgeon stops the bleeding and stabilizes the patient, she must be transported to a hospital with a neurosurgeon to handle a possible brain bleed.

Kuhls is visibly pleased. After class she said that a main point of the dramatization was for the student physician to realize that the patient needed a higher level of care than the scenarios community hospital could provide.

Students were later tested on patient assessment through multiple-choice questions and in simulations similar to what Farino did in front of the class.

That Kuhls became a trauma surgeon, and then a professor at a medical school, wasnt a sure thing. She started as a banker. It wasnt until her 30s, she said, that she re-examined her life and realized that she had always had a passion for helping people overcome life-threatening injuries.

After completing her medical training in Maryland in her 40s, she came to UMC 17 years ago. She began teaching soon after coaching many students from the University of Nevada, Reno, medical school who received their clinical training in Las Vegas.

Since then, she has held patients hearts in her hands as she worked to stop the bleeding from gunshot wounds and horrific accidents.

We cant save everyone

It is very rewarding to save lives, she said. But I also tell students that we have to accept the fact that were human and not God. We have to realize that we can do our best in our hearts we know weve done our best but we cant save everyone. And sometimes we have to tell someone that their loved one has died. We have to convey that information in a very empathetic way. It is not easy.

Dr. Dale Carrison, chief of staff at UMC and chairman of emergency medicine at the medical school, calls Kuhls brilliant in the operating room and in the classroom.

Her passion for her second profession has impressed the graduate students.

Dr. Krystle Tuano, a resident who plans to be a plastic surgeon, said Kuhls taught her that the best doctors dont stop helping patients after acute care is finished.

Shes a great patient advocate, always trying to find resources to help a patient out in the community after leaving the hospital, she said.

Farino, who has worked with Kuhls at UMC, said Kuhls shows that teaching is an art.

She can distill the jargon down from the very high level she practices at to something medical students can understand, he said. That takes a particular skill that not very many people can do. Its something I hope I can do.

Contact Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702 387-5273. Follow Follow @paulharasim on Twitter.

Medical schools graduate programs, fellowships

With the 60 students in the UNLV School of Medicines first class of medical students, there are also nearly 300 young physicians pursing their specialties in graduate medical education through residencies and fellowships at the school.

The 11 residency programs are in emergency medicine; family medicine; family medicine-rural; general surgery; internal medicine; obstetrics and gynecology; orthopedic surgery; otolaryngology; pediatrics; plastic surgery; and psychiatry.

Advanced fellowships are available in acute-care surgery; cardiovascular medicine; colon and rectal surgery; gastroenterology and hepatology; hand and microsurgery; minimally invasive gynecological surgery; pulmonary and critical care medicine; sports medicine; and urgent care.

Link:

UNLV medical school graduate students 'train with the best' - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Missouri isnt the only state with a new medical center designed to address the shortage of healthcare professionals, as the University of Kansas Medical Center recently opened the Health Education Building with the same goal in mind.

The Health Education Building is a four-story, 171,000-sf building designed by Co Architects and Helix Architecture that includes high-tech simulation environments and flexible learning studios. Large-scale teaching studios and clinical skills and simulation labs support active, team-based learning.

Photo courtesy of KUMC.

Two 225-person interactive studios are separated by an operable partition that can be removed to create one column-free 11,000-sf event space. The studios and labs float within the outer glass faade of the building to show off the core of the buildings curriculum to the public.

From the outside, the buildings design uses a transparent lantern box design. The ample use of glass allows students to receive natural daylight and provides them with exterior views.

The Health Education Buildings design also called for an on-grade parking lot to be changed into a 22,000-sf green courtyard and a 17,000-sf vegetated roof with access. The irrigation system for these features uses condensate water from the buildings mechanical system.

Photo courtesy of KUMC.

A 250-foot-long glass-enclosed bridge passes through the center of the Health Education Building and connects it to existing buildings on the Kansas City campus. The bridge links the campus into a loop that provides 6,000 sf of lounge, meeting, and student activity space.

The Health Education Building was designed with flexibility in mind and can accommodate a 25% class size increase over its current enrollment.

Photo courtesy of KUMC.

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Kansas' only medical school receives new 171000-sf building - Building Design + Construction (press release) (registration)

To Diversify Med Schools, Focus on Completion Inside Higher Ed (blog) Approximately 54,000 students have started or are about to start their 2018 applications to medical school. Ideally, those who become doctors will both serve and represent our diverse population since many studies show that patients are more likely to ...

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To Diversify Med Schools, Focus on Completion - Inside Higher Ed (blog)

Scott O'Connell Telegram & Gazette Staff @ScottOConnellTG

WORCESTER Once again, UMass Medical School has welcomed a historically large class of medical students, as 162 future doctors arrived on campus this week.

But after years of growth the schools enrollment cap used to be 100 students not long ago Chancellor Michael F. Collins said he doesnt expect new records to be set anytime soon.

Im not seeing the enrollment rising beyond that (162) at the moment, he said, explaining the lack of available clinical assignment spaces for additional students, as well as the potential reduction in instructional quality that could come from straining the medical schools staff and facilities, are the two main arguments against further expansion.

But Mr. Collins said the medical schools relatively fast enrollment growth since 2009, when its enrollment maximum increased to 125, has been managed well so far, which he credited in large part to the extraordinary commitment from UMasss faculty. In the last couple years in particular the medical school began accepting out-of-state students for the first time in 2016 the school has had to stretch its capacity to take on 150 students last year and now 162 this summer.

Nearly half of those students will go into primary care, Mr. Collins said, which is one of the reasons UMass the states lone public medical school has sought to expand its enrollment recently.

Obviously the nation needs more doctors, he said, especially in primary care. We feel a responsibility its good weve been able to increase the class size. We have the facilities and competent faculty to do it.

The true challenge of accommodating this years additional students wont come until their third year, however, when theyll be placed in clinical assignments.

Its easy to put a row of chairs in a classroom, Mr. Collins said. Its not so easy to find clinical placements for everybody.

Some students will be going to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, which UMass partnered with two years ago for the purpose of creating more clinical opportunities for medical students. Others will go to the medical schools new Baystate campus in Springfield; 22 from this years class, in particular, will participate in the new Urban and Rural Community Health track, which will take them to Springfield after two years to train to become primary care doctors in an urban or rural setting.

Most of this years record-setting class has come from within the state. According to UMass, 131 are Massachusetts residents, while the other 31 are from out of state, which is up from 19 a year ago. Technically, the new out-of-state acceptance policy is supposed to be capped at 25 students. But James Fessenden, a spokesman for UMass, said the acceptance process is ultimately an inexact science we manage it the best we can, which sometimes leads to slightly more or fewer students being accepted.

Mr. Collins said opening up the medical school to non-Massachusetts residents a move driven by UMasss desire for more high-quality candidates, as well as more revenue, since it can charge out-of-staters a higher rate has not in his view led to any changes to the culture or environment at the school.

Its imperceptible, he said. These are just students going to medical school.

But Mr. Collins said accepting large numbers of new students could negatively affect the program, which is why UMass has tried to keep year-over-year increases below 10 percent.

If we all of a sudden took 50 more students, it would be a different place here, he said.

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UMass Medical School welcomes largest class ever, but future ... - Worcester Telegram

The unfolding saga of the downfall of ex-USC medical school dean Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito has saddened, surprised and angered readers. Dozens of Times letter writers have reacted to the many angles of the developing scandal, with the weekend article detailing the history of internal complaints about Puliafitos drinking and abusive behavior eliciting especially sharp replies.

Here are a few of the responses.

Sandra Perez in Santa Maria has praise:

I cant thank your reporters enough for so doggedly pursuing the appalling story of how USC all but ignored Puliafitos egregious conduct while continuing to exploit his fund-raising prowess.

In Culver City, Meta Valentic is direct:

I read the article and wondered how USC could keep Puliafito at the helm of the Keck School of Medicine despite the many complaints logged about his behavior. Then, I found the answer in one short quote from former HR director James Lynch: Hes kind of a pain in the ass, but he gets results.

That's entitled privilege laid bare. Until USC looks at its problem with enabling people like Puliafito, they won't find any answers in this embarrassing debacle.

From Sherman Oaks, Nick Batzdorf questions The Times priorities:

We are living in tumultuous times with all kinds of vitally important things going on locally, nationally, and internationally. It's remarkable how uninterested I am in knowing more about the crazy former dean of the USC medical school. Is it possible that these many above-the-fold stories about this idiot is excessive?

Observes Nancy A. Stone from Santa Monica:

The lengths to which USCs administrators went to bury the Puliafito story speaks volumes about the universitys misplaced priorities. Obviously, money is far more important than integrity to the Trojan brand.

Cheryl Clark-O'Brien of Long Beach offers:

When I first read about the allegations against Dr. Puliafito, I thought he must be some kind of superhuman, raging with 20-year-olds by night, saving eyesight by day. Grudging respect.

Now it seems his colleagues already thought he was a bully and were concerned about his drinking. They tried to go through channels, but the doctor remained an honored employee. What a surprise.

Please fill in your full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address below. Submissions that do not include this information cannot be published. This information is seen only by the letters editors and is not used for any commercial purpose. We generally do not publish...

Please fill in your full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address below. Submissions that do not include this information cannot be published. This information is seen only by the letters editors and is not used for any commercial purpose. We generally do not publish...

Added Armen Goenjian, a physician from Long Beach:

Missing in these reports was a salient feature of the narrative, that the dean was suffering from a progressive disease.

The humiliating repetitive description of his inappropriate behavior adds insult to his psychological injuries, reduces the chances of his recovery and ability to find decent employment in the future.

Nancy Becklund Spencer in Glendale sees it differently:

Once again, a very good article ... My anger is that he is now portrayed as a victim. The victims are the great doctors and nurses at USC and those who left.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

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Twists, turns and maybe TMI about USC - Los Angeles Times

Holly Pittard of Goldsboro was nervous and excited Friday in anticipation of joining 81 other men and women who received their white clinic coats, signifying the start of four years of study at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

I grew up around the health care field and I know there is a lot of improvement that can be made and a lot of good to be accomplished, Pittard said.

The Brody Class of 2021 individually received their white coats on stage as family and friends watched during a ceremony hosted by the faculty and new medical school dean, Dr. Mark Stacy.

This is your day, Stacy told the students.The white coat ceremony is designed to establish a contract for the practice of medicine, emphasizing the the importance of compassionate care for the patient while bringing scientific proficiency to the bedside.

The act of a teacher cloaking a student with a white coat underscores the bonding process between the student and the medical professional presenting the coat, a personally delivered gift of faith, confidence and compassion, Stacy said.

It is personally placed on your shoulders by individuals who believe in you and believe in your ability to carry on the noble tradition of doctoring, he told the entering class members. On those days when you wonder, Why do they believe in me? remember only that we believe in you and keep going.

Dr. William Burke, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, division chief of dermatology and member of the Brody Schools second medical class in 1982, offered the students some advice in his keynote address.

I believe there are only four things you need to be a good doctor; being brilliant is good but its not a requirement, Burke said.What you need is to put your patients first, be honest, be empathetic and compassionate about your patients and their diseases and you need to know your limitations and not be afraid to get advice from other doctors.

Burke reminded the students that their grades still matter if they want to get accepted into quality residency programs after medical school, but he also advised them to nurture their own health along with their patients, suggesting they take some time to enjoy the attractions of eastern North Carolina while studying here.

Pittard, whose mother also is a physician, said she will pursue a career specialty in primary care and family medicine, music to the ears of Brody administrators and faculty. The schools continuing mission since its establishment in 1974 is to increase the supply of primary care physicians to serve the state and to improve the health status of citizens in eastern North Carolina.Much of the students clinical training occurs away from Brody in rural health care settings across the states eastern region.

A third mission for Brody is to enhance the access to a medical education for minority and disadvantaged students. Of the schools 82 entering students, 24 (29 percent) are non-Caucasian, and 52 percent are women.

Dr. Elizabeth Baxley, senior associate dean for Academic Affairs, said she saw great promise in the Class of 2021 at a time of change and challenge for Brody and health care generally.

This group is going to set the way for the future; its a tremendous class, the third-most competitive class in our history, Baxley said.We have a great new dean and 82 bright new students and a lot of commitment from faculty and staff to make sure these students are successful. I see a lot of hope for the future here.

Contact Michael Abramowitz at mabramowitz@reflector.com.

Quick facts about the Brody School of Medicine Class of 2021

All 82 students are North Carolina residents. They were selected from 1,008 applicants and represent 30 counties from Macon in the west to Beaufort in the east, and 23 different undergraduate institutions.

The class is 48 percent male and 52 percent female.

Ages range from 21 to 31, with the average being 24.

Twenty-nine percent (24 students) are non-Caucasian.

The class boasts an average undergraduate 3.6 grade point average. Thirteen students completed graduate coursework, and they averaged a 3.8 GPA. While 42 students majored in biology, there are also African American studies, computer science and business administration students in the class.

Nineteen students are children of doctors. Two are the children of Brody School of Medicine graduates. One is the sibling of a current Brody School of Medicine student.

Students will earn a medical doctor degree at the Brody School of Medicine before going on to residencies additional years of medical training in various specialties.

The first 20 months of medical school at Brody are classroom-based and encompass foundational sciences including core science coursework, bioethics and an introduction to doctoring, which features clinic-based primary care experience.The third year consists of a series of predetermined clinical clerkships, and the fourth year allows for more individualized clinical experiences.

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New class takes places in medical school tradition - Greenville Daily Reflector

University of Vermont medical students in the school's new Larner classroom, built to facilitate the active learning environment. Andy Duback/Courtesy of Larner College of Medicine hide caption

University of Vermont medical students in the school's new Larner classroom, built to facilitate the active learning environment.

For students starting medical school, the first year can involve a lot of time in a lecture hall. There are hundreds of terms to master and pages upon pages of notes to take.

But when the new class of medical students begins at the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine next week, a lot of that learning won't take place with a professor at a lectern.

The school has begun to phase out lectures in favor of what's known as "active learning" and plans to be done with lectures altogether by 2019.

Ironically, the man leading the effort loves lectures. In fact, William Jeffries, a dean at the school, wrote the chapter on lectures in two prominent textbooks on medical education. But he's now convinced they're not the best way to learn.

Jeffries spoke with All Things Considered about the thinking behind this move. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why are lectures bad?

Well, I wouldn't say that they're bad. The issue is that there is a lot of evidence that lectures are not the best way to accumulate the skills needed to become a scientist or a physician. We've seen much evidence in the literature, accumulated in the last decade, that shows that when you do a comparison between lectures and other methods of learning typically called "active learning" methods that lectures are not as efficient or not as successful in allowing students to accumulate knowledge in the same amount of time.

William Jeffries, a dean at the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine, is leading the push to end lectures for medical students. Courtesy of UVM Larner College of Medicine Photography hide caption

William Jeffries, a dean at the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine, is leading the push to end lectures for medical students.

So is it because we don't show up or because we're sleeping through lectures?

There's a lot of that, yes. It turns out that the lectures are not really good at engaging the learners in doing something. And I think that's the most important part of learning. We're finding out a lot from the neuroscience of learning that the brain needs to accumulate the information, but then also organize it and make sense of it and create an internal story that makes the knowledge make sense.

When you just tell somebody something, the chances of them remembering it diminishes over time, but if you are required to use that information, chances are you'll remember it much better.

Give us an example of a topic taught in a traditional lecture versus an "active learning" setting.

A good example would be the teaching of what we would call pharmacokinetics the science of drug delivery. So, how does a drug get to the target organ or targeted receptor?

A lot of the science of pharmacokinetics is simply mathematical equations. If you have a lecture, it's simply presenting those equations and maybe giving examples of how they work.

In an active learning setting, you expect the students to learn about the equations before they get there. And when you get into the classroom setting, the students work in groups solving pharmacokinetic problems. Cases are presented where the patient gets a drug in a certain dose at a certain time, and you're looking at the action of that over time and the concentration of the drug in the blood.

So, those are the types of things where you're expecting the student to know the knowledge in order to use the knowledge. And then they don't forget it.

Have you had pushback to this move?

Certainly, we've gotten some pushback, but what I tell the average clinical faculty member is: "OK, if you like doing appendectomies using an old method because you like it, and you're really good at it, but it's really not the best method for the patient, would you do it?" Of course, the answer is always no. And then you turn around and say, "Well this method of teaching is actually not as good as other methods. Would you do that?" When confronted with a question like that, medical faculty typically tend to understand and agree.

Will this be the norm at every medical school in 10 or 20 years?

I hope so. [The] University of Vermont is not the only medical school that's recognized the value of active learning methods. A number of my colleagues around the country are leading similar efforts because of the incontrovertible evidence that active learning methods are superior to lectures.

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University Of Vermont To Phase Out Lectures In Med School : Shots ... - NPR

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

It was the day before the 2015 draft began, the day before some team was going to give the most unlikely pre-med student at Illinois State University the chance to take another step towards his dream.

Plenty of kids have a backup plan in case medical school falls through. For Paul DeJong, medical school was the backup plan. Baseball was always the first choice, and it was baseball that had him driving 2 1/2 hours down I-55 to Busch Stadium on that Sunday in early June.

He couldn't actually work out, because of a broken left thumb, but the St. Louis Cardinals asked him to come down to shake hands and talk.

Tom Lipari, the area scout who liked DeJong so much, was there. So was John Mozeliak, then the Cardinals general manager and now the club's president of baseball operations.

And Chris Correa.

"He seemed like he was pretty smart," DeJong said.

Smart or not, he was pretty important to a college kid hoping to get drafted. Correa was the Cardinals scouting director, the guy who would make the picks. And when the Cardinals used their fourth-round pick on DeJong two days later, it was Correa's call to take him in the only draft he would ever run.

"He's really a bright kid," Correa told Rob Rains of STL Sports Page that day.

He's a bright kid, and he's turned into quite a baseball player too. Not even two years after the draft, DeJong was in the major leagues with the Cardinals this May. He just turned 24 on Wednesday, he's playing every day at shortstop and he's batting third for a Cardinals team that still has hopes of making a run at a playoff spot in the National League and he was just named National League Rookie of the Month for July.

He's the first Cardinals rookie to play short and bat third since Red Schoendienst in 1945. He hit more home runs in his first 53 major league games (14) than any Cardinal in history other than Albert Pujols. His 13 home runs since his his most recent call-up on June 15 are tied for the second most in the majors behind only Giancarlo Stanton.

He won't be going to medical school, at least not any time soon.

Oh, and Chris Correa, the scouting director who called DeJong's name in the draft?

He was fired a month later when an investigation showed he had hacked into the Houston Astros' computer system. He pled guilty to five criminal charges, was permanently banned from baseball and sentenced to 46 months in prison. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, he's serving his time at FCI Cumberland in Cumberland, Maryland, with a release date of Dec. 31, 2018.

**

Correa was responsible for making DeJong a Cardinal, but it was Lipari who scouted DeJong at Illinois State and emphatically made DeJong's case in pre-draft meetings.

"I ended up speaking for quite some time," Lipari, a former college coach who was in his first year scouting, said. "Not only on the physical strengths of Paul, but the type of person he was. And of course, we had cross-checkers and analysts who thought highly of Paul as well. Total team effort."

DeJong remained on the board through the first three rounds of the draft, and at some point Correa had Lipari call and ask if DeJong would consider signing for fourth-round money. DeJong, a junior in eligibility but graduating senior academically, quickly said he would (he eventually got a $200,000 bonus).

It didn't matter that he was graduating with a 3.76 GPA, or that he had been as serious as any other pre-med about his academics.

"Paul was an incrediblyhard-working student," said Dr. Christopher G. Hamaker, who had DeJong in a first-year chemistry class.

But medical school had always been a backup plan. Being a doctor sounded cool, but playing professional baseball was his first choice.

The question was whether he'd get a chance. Not only did DeJong go undrafted out of high school, but no college offered him an athletic scholarship. He considered going to Wisconsin, which didn't have a baseball team, but chose Illinois State after coaches showed interest in having him walk on.

"That's what it seems to come down to for me," DeJong said. "I've struggled to get opportunities. Once I finally get it, I take advantage. That's my whole life. I was never considered the elite player. I just quietly wait my turn, and then never look back."

After his third year at Illinois State, the Pittsburgh Pirates chose him in the 38th round of the draft. DeJong didn't sign, but he did decide professional baseball would be his next step. He kept up his challenging academic programBiochem 2 was particularly tough, he saidbut baseball became the priority.

DeJong wasn't a shortstop then. He was a second baseman, third baseman and an occasional catcher. He was catching when a foul tip broke his thumb.

"A lot of teams probably freaked out," DeJong said.

Fortunately for him, and for them, the Cardinals didn't.

**

The road from fourth-round draft pick to starting shortstop batting third was a quick one, but it wasn't direct. DeJong played third base after he signed and for most of last season at Double-A Springfield. He didn't move to shortstop until last July, but the Cardinals thought enough of his offense and defense to send him to the Arizona Fall League to play the position.

He came to the big leagues in late May as a second baseman when Kolten Wong got hurt. He moved to shortstop in late June because he was hitting and Aledmys Diaz wasn't.

He waited his turn. At least so far, he hasn't looked back.

"I see an aggressiveness with the first step, and I like the way the ball is carrying across the infield too," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "I just like what he's doing, the way he's going about it defensively."

And, of course, he's hitting.

There could be some concerns because DeJong had 63 strikeouts and just eight walks in his first 54 major league games. Cardinal fans, who have seen some other youngsters get off to good starts before struggling, want to be sure the same won't happen with DeJong.

For now, the team says it's not concerned.

"If you hit the ball hard, good things will happen," Mozeliak said.

DeJong has hit the ball hard. Of Cardinals players with at least 100 plate appearances this season, MLB.com's Statcast says DeJong has the highest average exit velocity, at 97.9 mph.

**

Matheny knows DeJong's background, but he said his shortstop looks like a ballplayer and not like a science student who lost his way and ended up at the field. But he can still talk chemistry, especially with his grandmother, who worked 30 years at Dow Chemical. He still keeps in touch with some of his professors at Illinois State.

Thoughts of medical school are behind him now.

"It would be tough," DeJong said. "The biggest challenge would be the MCATs. And the workload is way more than in college. There's no way you could do medical school and play baseball."

Besides, those reasons he wanted to be a doctor in the first place kind of apply to baseball too.

"I liked math, but I didn't want to write and I didn't want to read," he said. "I had an uncle who was a doctor. He was always fishing or hunting, and he made a lot of money. I thought, this is a good thing to go into."

He's into baseball now, the first player from that Correa draft to make the big leagues (although outfielder Harrison Bader has since followed). He's the only current major league shortstop out of that 2015 draft now that the Atlanta Braves have sent Dansby Swanson to the minor leagues and the Houston Astros have moved Alex Bregman to third base.

And maybe, just maybe, that chemistry background has played a part.

"I knew he would succeed in baseball because of his work ethic," Hamaker said. "I knew that if he put as much work into baseball as he did into his biochemistry studies he'd play in the majors."

And maybe there was another thing, too.

"He's used to experiments failing in the lab and having to adjust," said Burton Rocks, DeJong's agent. "His background scares some people off because they think chemistry and baseball don't go together. But they do, in a tangential way."

DeJong and baseball go together in a pretty obvious way. Lipari understood that, perhaps a little more than any of the other scouts who were watching.

He made his case. And the guy headed for prison made the right call.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Paul DeJong Is Breakout MLB Star Thanks in Part to Man Serving 4 Years in Prison - Bleacher Report

Thousands of students from state-run universities finished a five-day march across Sri Lanka on Friday, demanding the government shut a private medical university that they say could jeopardize the country's tradition of state-funded education.

The students arrived in the capital, Colombo, accompanied by trade union and rights activists and opposition politicians, and rallied in front of the main railroad station.

The issue has sparked months of demonstrations in the island nation, with doctors and students urging the government to shut down the private South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, the only private university training medical students.

Rathkarawwe Jinarathana, a Buddhist monk and student leader, said the government wants to privatize education and weaken state-funded education and health services.

"This university will be first one and then many more will follow. Privatizing education will affect a large segment of our society. We are against this privatization process and we demand that the government shut it down," he said.

There was no immediate response from the government to the protest.

Students at state-run schools say the private medical school does not meet the country's educational standards. The institute says its standards and facilities are better than those at state-run universities. A legal battle has been continuing since last year over whether to allow graduates of the university to work as doctors.

Government doctors have staged several strikes in the last few months, demanding that the government acquire the medical university.

For more than half a century, Sri Lanka has provided free education through the university level. Private schools also exist, but the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine is the only private medical school.

A private medical university that opened in the 1980s was acquired by the government due to student protests.

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Sri Lankan students protest private medical university - ABC News