Belleville News-Democrat | OTHS honors student attends national medical leaders conference Belleville News-Democrat Caraway, 16, who will be a junior this fall at O'Fallon Township High School, was nominated by Dr. Robert Darling, the Medical Director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists to represent OTHS based on her academic ... |
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OTHS honors student attends national medical leaders conference - Belleville News-Democrat
Dean Olsen Staff Writer @deanolsenSJR
Efforts to test and distribute vaccines that are believed to treat and prevent genital herpes worldwide will continue after the June 22 death of the Springfield scientist who developed the vaccines.
Thats according to Agustin Fernandez III, chief executive officer of Springfield-based Rational Vaccines. He co-founded the company in 2015 with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine researcher William Halford, who developed the Theravax and Profavax vaccines. Halford died from a rare form of nasal cancer at age 48 at his Springfield home.
Seeing Bill pass away is giving me new urgency, said Fernandez, 41, a movie producer and director who lives in Los Angeles and New York. Were very focused on the mission of the company.
Fernandez said he and others associated with Rational Vaccines are grieving Halfords death.
But Fernandez said he and Halford made plans to ensure Halfords herpes vaccines made from live but weakened or attenuated herpes viruses would continue to be tested in clinical trials and offered to more patients suffering from the sexually transmitted infection after Halfords death.
Commitments of investments totaling $7 million to support the next three years of Rational Vaccines work have been made by venture capital organizations that include Thiel Capital and Founders Fund, both based in San Francisco, Fernandez said.
Officials from those organizations didnt respond to requests for comment.
Halford, whose vaccines were the product of his research at the Springfield campus of the medical school and produced by Rational Vaccines, had been the companys chief science officer.
Plans are in the works for scientific guidance of the company to be taken over by a research colleague of Halfords at SIU, Edward Gershburg, according to Fernandez and Gershburg.
Gershburg would become a part-time employee of Rational Vaccines and remain on SIUs faculty, Fernandez and Gershburg said.
Plans also call for the companys three-member laboratory staff to grow by as many as four employees by the end of the year, Fernandez said.
After a successful, small-scale clinical trial overseas in 2016 to test the safety of the therapeutic herpes vaccine, Rational Vaccines is planning a second safety-related trial for November, again in the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and involving about 40 patients, Fernandez said.
The company wants to set up a third trial to test the safety of Profavax in Australia in 2018 among about 40 patients, Fernandez said. More details were unavailable.
Overseas testing
Its unusual for American scientists to conduct clinical trials overseas, where regulatory systems to test new drugs and medicines can be less stringent. But Fernandez said Halford didnt want to wait decades before the regulatory environment in the United States and current scientific biases against the use of live-virus vaccines would allow his vaccines to be tested and considered for widespread use.
Results of the 2016 Caribbean clinical trial havent been published yet in any peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Rational Vaccines said in a news release in 2016 that the trial indicated Theravax could become one of the most effective therapeutic agents ever created for genital herpes.
On average, the 17 patients who received the three-shot therapeutic vaccine series self-reported a three-fold reduction in their number of days with herpes symptoms, the RV news release said.
Genital herpes affects about one in seven people in the United States and more than 400 people worldwide, with tens of millions living with symptoms such as chronic pain that arent addressed well with conventional medical treatments.
The stigma associated with herpes can lead to depression, suicide and social isolation, said Fernandez, whose former girlfriend had herpes.
He said he hopes positive results from the 2016 trial and other overseas clinical trials lead to clinical trials in the United States of Halfords vaccines in three to five years.
Therapeutic and preventive vaccines work by boosting patients immune systems.
'Something that works'
Richard Mancuso, 48, a resident of Brick, New Jersey, said his herpes symptoms first dropped dramatically and then stopped completely after he took part in the 2016 clinical trial.
Its important for people to know that theres something that works, he said.
Mancuso, a truck driver and Uber driver, said he created an online petition to get Congress to shorten the timetable for clinical trials of Halfords vaccines in America.
Mancuso said he became friends with Halford and said the scientists death hit him hard.
Its unfortunate that we didnt have a cure for the cancer that he had, Mancuso said. We really took a big hit with losing him. He just spent every waking moment on making people better, and he couldnt make himself better.
A proven treatment for herpes, as well as a preventive vaccine, would be lucrative, but Fernandez said Halford never cared about money. Bill just cared about people.
Halfords wife, Melanie Halford, 48, said her husbands cancer diagnosis in 2011, and the knowledge that his life likely would be shortened, made him more willing to consider forming a company and pushing forward with clinical trials overseas rather than waiting the 20 years a similar process might have taken in the United States.
It was a real leap of faith, said Melanie Halford, an SIU office employee who was married to William Halford for 25 years. I dont wish cancer on anyone, but undoubtedly it changed the course of his career.
William Halford said in a video made in Apriland made public by SIU last week, that his survival after an initial diagnosis of sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma in 2011 did create a sense of personal urgency to move forward sooner rather than later.
The cancer kills half of sufferers within 24 months, Halford said on the video. When he was alive at the end of 2011 after months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries, Halford said he believed he might be around for a little bit longer.
Melanie Halford said she is personally devastated by her husbands death. She said she and their children, Justin, 22, of Chicago, and Kate, 20, of Bloomington, are comforted by Halfords scientific achievements even though his work often took him away from his family.
We take a lot of solace that his work goes on, Melanie Halford said.
His vaccine might go on to help a lot of people, she said.
She added that her husband, a native of New Orleans, never had a personal connection with herpes and became interested in the condition through a scientist he met while working as that scientists laboratory assistant in 1992 at Louisiana State University.
Melanie Halford said her husband felt tremendous satisfaction meeting patients in the 2016 trial who benefited from his vaccine.
Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean and provost of SIU School of Medicine, said William Halford was the quintessential scientist, for sure.
Gershburg said Halford was very passionate about what he was doing but didnt let preconceived opinions guide his research.
Gershburg, 49, pointed out that many vaccines powered by live, attenuated viruses are in use today through shots protecting against measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and shingles.
Halfords fellow researchers at SIU supported his research and efforts to help patients, according to Donald Torry, chairman of SIUs department of medical microbiology, immunology and cell biology.
Halford got closer than most basic-science researchers when it comes to seeing the long-term benefits for patients, Torry said.
Hes a very careful scientist, and there were no shortcuts taken, Torry said, calling Halford a dear friend and colleague.
If the future clinical trials hold up, Torry said, this will affect millions.
Contact Dean Olsen: dean.olsen@sj-r.com, 788-1543, twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.
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Want a medical degree in three years? It's an option at UC Davis, Kaiser Sacramento Bee For most medical school students, summer means fun in the sun and a much-needed break from studies. But Aljanee Whitaker was hard at work in mid-June, having just started a year-round UC Davis program that fast-tracks primary care doctors to graduate ... |
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Want a medical degree in three years? It's an option at UC Davis, Kaiser - Sacramento Bee
By Katie Pearce
As they were going through the daunting process of applying to medical schools last year, two friends from Johns Hopkins University learned to lean hard on each other.
The two premed studentsMelaku Arega and Haziq Siddiqiwere picking up insights on the admissions process as they went along, and they found value in exchanging that knowledge.
The idea behind White Coat Strategists is that peer wisdomfrom those with personal experience navigating through all the paperwork, interviews, essays, and general stress of the med school admissions processis the most valuable resource an applicant can find.
"Haziq and I talked often, asked for advice on interviews and how to go about things," Arega says. "A lot of times I really relied on him, and he relied on me. We felt there weren't a lot of other resources out there."
Now, a year later, both students are preparing to attend Harvard Medical School in the fall. They're also putting their consulting experience to good use with a new service to help others achieve their med school ambitions.
Their firm, White Coat Strategists, offers personalized support through every layer of the admissions process, from brainstorming initial strategies to eventually selecting the right program.
Arega and Siddiqi launched the concept this spring with fellow Johns Hopkins graduate Lamin Sonko, who will attend the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. They've now built up a team of nine consultants, eight of them Hopkins alums.
The idea behind White Coat Strategists is that peer wisdomfrom those with personal experience navigating through all the paperwork, interviews, essays, and general stress of the med school admissions processis the most valuable resource an applicant can find.
White Coat's consultants can also point to their own successes with this process, after winning acceptance to some of the nation's top medical programs. Arega, for example, was accepted to all 10 of the schools he applied to, raking in more than $2 million in total scholarship offers.
With White Coat, clients can expect between five and 20 hours of one-on-one support, usually through emails and Skype. The firm's services include mock interviews, editing personal statements, and guidance on letters of recommendation. They work with students who have already taken their MCATs and are moving through the primary and secondary rounds of the application process, then into school selection.
The firm has priced these services to be affordable for any applicant (packages begin at $399), filling a void the three founders identified during their own experiences.
"What I looked for were any commercial services to provide me more extensive support," Siddiqi says, "but there wasn't any affordable admissions consulting out there."
Image caption: White Coat Strategists co-founders (from left) Lamin Sonko, Haziq Siddiqi, and Melaku Arega.
They're also making free consulting available to clients eligible for the Fee Assistance Program through the Association of American Medical Colleges, which supports students who couldn't otherwise afford the costs of med school applications.
A forward-thinking strategy guides this pro bono option: White Coat views its own clients as potential consultants.
"Once we work with our students and they get into good schools, we know who's good at writing, who's good at interviewswe can have them join us and continue this process," Arega says.
In addition to acknowledging financial disparities, White Coat is interested in working with clients from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, to help promote greater diversity in the medical profession.
"In medicine, people like me are underrepresented," says Arega, who was born and raised in Ethiopia. "We want to help open up this premed path to more people from all walks of life."
Arega won a full scholarship to attend Johns Hopkins as a Gates Millennium Scholar; he graduated in May with degrees in neuroscience and molecular and cellular biology. Both Siddiqi and Sonko graduated from Hopkins in May 2016 with degrees in molecular and cellular biology.
Siddiqi, who was born in Pakistan, has spent the past year on a Fulbright Scholarship in Spain. Sonko, who's from Gambia, has been working for health care firm Remedy Partners.
So how will the consultants juggle their White Coat services along with the demands of the first year of med school?
First, Siddiqi notes the timing of applications works in their favor, with the busiest phase during summer break. Second, the firm's founders hope to bring in more team members, so each client gets personalized attention.
Beyond that, they're exploring ideas to expand offerings, such as a podcast, a blog, or even a book.
"Long term," Siddiqi says, "I see us diversifying the ways we can provide affordable consulting."
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Many rural parts of the U.S. dont have enough doctors, and a growing number of smaller medical schools are opening outside of cities to address the problem. But the graduates wont be traditional M.D.s, theyll be doctors of osteopathic medicine.
Twenty-four-year-old Kalee Woody says that when she was growing up in Bronaugh, Missouri, she saw the small town slowly fading. Businesses closed, growth stagnated and residents had to drive to other places to see a doctor.
It is a town that, like many towns in rural areas of Missouri and other Midwest and Great Plains states, is recognized by the federal government as having a shortage of healthcare providers.
Now, Woody wants to help. She enrolled in medical school and will start classes in July at the just-opened Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB) campus in Joplin, Missouri, the first new medical school in the state in nearly half a century. Woody wants to serve someday in a rural community much like the one she grew up in where, as a doctor, shell also be seen as a pillar of the community.
They have so much contact with different people. They just get to know everyone, Woody says. Everyone knows them and, by association, they become a leader.
KCUMB is an osteopathic medical school, meaning that graduates emerge with a Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree, rather than an M.D. degree. Osteopathic medical schools, whose numbers have doubled in the last 10 years, are in the middle of a push into smaller communities and some in the healthcare industry hope graduates could eventually help ease the current shortage of medical care in many rural areas.
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Mayor Mike Seibert of Joplin, Missouri, leads the grand opening ceremony of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences campus in June with a prayer. (Photo by Alex Smith for Harvest Public Media)
Were going to have an opportunity to teach those students in a rural environment and show them how cool it really is to work there, says Darrin DAgostino, executive dean of KCUMB.
DAgostino says osteopathic schools take a more holistic approach than M.D. programs, which accounts for the high percentage of D.O.s 56% going into primary care instead of specialties, according to the American Osteopathic Association. Less than a quarter of new MDs go into primary care, according to researchers at George Washington University.
D.O.s are licensed in the same way M.D.s are and these days, the care provided by D.O.s and M.D.s is typically so similar that most patients wouldnt know the difference. But that hasnt always been the case.
At the root of osteopathic medicine is osteopathic manipulative treatment, a hands-on technique that looks like a cross between chiropractic manipulation and massage. There is evidence this can help treat some kinds of pain.
It sounds New-Age-y, but the idea dates back to the days of the Old West.
In the late 1800s, a former Kansas state legislator and civil war surgeon, Andrew Taylor Still, decided to reconsider basic assumptions about medicine after he watched three of his children die from spinal meningitis.
The therapeutic options were very different than we have available to us right now, and he thought that the available system of medicine simply didnt work, says Joel Howell, an M.D. and professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan, who has written about Still and the practice he invented.
Still eventually founded the first osteopathic school in Kirksville, Missouri, in order to teach his kind of medicine, which was based on a very different understanding of the body and human health.
He set out to devise an alternative healing practice based on this notion that manipulation of the spine could improve blood flow and thus improve health by allowing the body to heal itself, Howell says.
Osteopathic manipulation is now just one of the techniques that D.O.s are taught to use, along with mainstream treatments.
A recent burst of new osteopathic medical schools is part ofa decades-long effort to move osteopathic physicians into practice throughout the country. Many are in states like Arkansas, Colorado and Tennessee that have very small numbers of working D.O.s.
Howell says these newly minted physicians can probably help out a lot in medically underserved parts of those states, but they may have to do some public relations work first.
I think they should be prepared to explain what being a D.O. means, Howell says.
The bigger challenge may be acceptance from M.D.s, who still dominate medicine and make up the preponderance of doctors. Almost all of the most prestigious medical schools such as Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins churn out M.D.s.
The general reception is that we ignore [osteopathic medicine,] Howell says. We dont know much about it; we dont do it. I think if pushed, most people would figure that for some kinds of illnesses, it doesnt do any harm, and it might well help.
Earlier in the summer, hundreds of curious Joplin residents turned out for the opening of the new KCUMB medical school. School and community leaders in this city of 51,000 in the southwestern corner of Missouri hope that in surrounding rural areas with a shortage of health care providers, patients wont care much about whether someones a D.O. or an M.D. just as long as theyre a doctor.
Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and eld. Harvest covers these agriculture-related topics through an expanding network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest.
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Osteopathic Medical Schools Target Rural Healthcare Shortage - NET Website
This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.
If youre medical school-bound, youre probably experiencing a mixture of pride, fear, and excitement about your acceptance.
In 2017, its harder than ever to get into medical school given the increased competition and interest in the field. These programs are designed to create the next wave of healthcare providers, researchers, and specialists who are well-equipped to care for others. For this reason, youll want to make sure youve got everything you need to thrive in your program and what better time is there to prepare than summertime?
Here are four ways to get a taste for life as a medical school student while summers still in session:
1. Perfect your study practices
Without putting it lightly, youll need virtually flawless study habits and skills as you go into medical school.Falling behind in your studying could set you on a less than optimal path. If you know youre usually most successful when studying with multiple people in a group, make a point to find study buddies right away in the first couple days of class. If you know youre best off studying alone, find an environment with few distractions and plenty of resources (where all your materials can be kept in one place).
Image via WikiMedia Commons
Think about what strategies have led you to the highest degrees of success in the past, and consider how you might optimize them. Stock up on flash cards if those are your keys to success, or get a membership to Quizlet Plus (an online flashcard service that features different games and tests to help you remember information).
In sum, zero in on whatever works for you study-wise, and ensure you have all your materials by the end of the summer. You dont want to be unprepared on your first day of medical school!
2. Find and try cooking recipes you can take to go
Medical students have long days packed with lectures, labs, and other commitments that take up hours of their time. Youll need to eat well to stay focused and healthy, so the best way to get through a long day of medical school is to pack ample snacks and meals that are easily transported. Over the summer, invest in some plastic Tupperware containers of different shapes and sizes (theyre inexpensive if you get store brand containers).
If youre stumped about what to cook for yourself during med school, dont worry the internet has ideas for you! Budget Bytes is a great online resource for students trying to eat as inexpensively as possible, where you can find plenty of recipes that are tasty, creative, cheap, and transportable for the most part if you have enough containers!
Over the summer, practice living like a medical student by trying out some of these easy and affordable meals on websites like Budget Bytes (there are others too, of course) to see which ones you like best. The faster you can learn how to cook yummy meals, the more ready youll be for the school year; skimping out on nutrition wont help you when exams pop up.
3. Create a budget
Its rarely a good idea to work part-time while in medical school, according to many sources in an article by U.S. News, G. Richard Olds, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine at University of CaliforniaRiverside, states Students that are successful in med school are probably putting 40 to 60 hours a week into medical school.
If youre getting financial aid (you should be, if you cant really work), make a budget from the amount youll get in aid. Map out when your expenses are due and try your best to stretch your financial aid as far as you can. If you can end the summer with a good understanding of how youll be managing your money during medical school, youll have more time to focus on school and wont be spending time worrying about how youll pay rent on time.
For the summer, try to limit your spending to items and expenses you truly need youll get used to staying frugal when med school rolls around.
4. Identify (and use) your support system
Medical school is extremely tough, as nearly all pre-med students should know. This means itll likely take a toll on your mental health. Some students even experience what is called imposter syndrome, which is essentially a state of questioning your own capabilities, value, intelligence, and worth in relation to your status as a graduate student.
You might feel you arent good enough or dont deserve to be in school. If you do ever feel this way, its best to reach out to trusted friends, loved ones, and any family who can help remind you of your importance. Over the summer, it could also be a good idea to visit your universitys counseling and psychological services department to become familiar with services there, just in case you need some extra support during med school.
Learn more about Kaplans test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.
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Medical School Bound? Practicing Med Student Life Over Summer - Uloop News
What promised to be an exciting summer for the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education and the Fort Smith area got even more exciting last week.
The school, set to welcome its inaugural class at the end of July, announced plans for a second college a $15 million, 60,000-square-foot College of Health Sciences.
The new college is expected to be ready for classes in 2020 and will be home to several disciplines, including a master of nursing program, a physician assistant program and a post-baccalaureate masters program, ACHE President and CEO Kyle Parker said at a news conference Tuesday.
The schools expansion will mean wonderful things for this area. Weve already seen tremendous growth at Chaffee Crossing, including the recent opening of a Mercy clinic across from the medical school and ongoing plans for businesses at the Warehouse District. Now, Fort Smith is poised to brand itself as a top-notch location for health-care education, with the hope that these future doctors will remain in our area and provide services to what Parker called the most medically under-served area in the United States.
The school has worked hard to make things a little easier on its new students. The Residents, the schools student-housing apartments, are integrated with the school, so if a student is sick, he or she can watch class from home. The school is also paying for all utilities for the apartments. In addition, ACHE announced plans to expand the apartments by 80 units to accommodate students attending the new college when it opens in 2020.
ACHE also also plans to develop a 228-acre neighborhood withassistance fromFort Smith, Barling and the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, Parker announced. The neighborhood will feature restaurants, grocery stores, apparel stores and more while generating $25.9 million in taxable sales, in addition to 1,900 new housing units planned within the next decade or so.
In other words, the possibilities are endless at Chaffee Crossing and the ACHE. The future is now.
FCRA Executive Director Ivy Owen said he was overwhelmed with pride and joy to hear the expansion announcement, pointing out that the students who stay in the area when they graduate will offer an economic boost to the area, as will the extra generated sales tax.
According to the ACHE, 64 percent of its first class of students comes from the colleges service area of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Missouri. Forty-three percent of the students are from Arkansas, and 23 percent are first-generation college graduates in their families, the college previously stated. The remaining group of students comes from outside the area, as do a number of the schools professors. What a thrill it is for us to have people from throughout the country come to our neck of the woods to be part of the ongoingdevelopment of Fort Smith into a health-care hub.
Were excited to see the progress and are delighted with the economic and health-care prospects on the horizon. We cant help but feel the rest of the state must be envious of our area because of what the ACHE does and will do for this region. We are fortunate the college decided to call Fort Smith home, and were eager to see how its development plays out in the coming years. It's only going to get bigger and better.
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Editorial: Medical school expansion a boost to Fort Smith region - Times Record
Daniel Axelrod Times Herald-Record @dan_axelrod
TUXEDO NYUs School of Medicine is close to selling the 87,000-square-foot Sterling Forest research center where its Department of Environmental Medicine has operated for decades.
NYUs leaders declined to provide a statement about the sale, but they confirmed public information about it, said how long NYU had been there and explained what will happen to the sites researchers.
Just two months after marketing the complex, university staff are conducting due diligence reviews of prospective buyers after receiving multiple offers on the seven-acre complex, which is listed at $3.91 million.
For more than two decades, NYU medical school researchers have conducted important research at the site, including testing vaccines for AIDS, hepatitis and other deadly diseases.
But with the facility aging, NYU is selling it and merging its local medical research center into properties closer to its main campus in Manhattan, instead of reusing the complex for other educational purposes.
The sites two-story, stone, 1920s-era East Building is the complexs oldest structure, said broker Robert Scherreik, executive managing director for the Newburgh-based Hudson Valley office of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company.
The East Building began as an elementary school. Later owners of the site, which sits 33 miles from New York City, added the West Building (1962) and the South Building (1972), which have steel frames and brick-and-stone exteriors.
Theyre extremely well-built structures, with very good bones and an absolutely beautiful location in the midst of New Yorks Sterling Forest State Park, and theyre near population centers in northern New Jersey, Rockland County and New York City, Scherreik said.
The buildings have been renovated and improved a number of times over the years, including with energy-efficient windows and HVAC systems, and theyd be perfect for educational or office space, Scherreik said.
They do, however, need to be substantially renovated to meet needs other than those of a research lab, he said.
Despite NYU's positive research contributions, the lab may be best known locally for what university officials did with the chimps housed there after closing its Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates in 1995.
NYU leaders ignored a public outcry against transferring the center, and roughly 100 of its chimps, to the New Mexico-based lab of Fred Coulston, a notorious toxicologist cited by federal agencies for viciously abusing and killing primates.
Subsequent investigations by federal agencies and the Times Herald-Record revealed that Coulston spent years torturing and killing the NYU chimps until the feds ordered that he transfer 51 of the NYU survivors to sanctuaries.
Another roughly 100 LEMSIP chimps would have faced the same fate were it not for NYU veterinarian C. James Mahoney, who smuggled them out of the Tuxedo facility and found them homes.
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NYU's School of Medicine reviewing offers for Sterling Forest site - Times Herald-Record
Medical school researchers found that prostate cancer tumors in black men have a genetic variation that may make them more aggressive and resistant to drug treatments.
Researchers said the study, which was published Friday in the journal Nature Communications may help explain why black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at higher rates and often have a worse prognosis than white men, according to a release.
Norman Lee, professor of pharmacology and physiology said he started the project to study disparities in prostate cancer from a genetic perspective.
Why is it that the African American population has a higher incidence of prostate cancer and a worse prognosis compared to those of European American descent? Lee said in a release. In trying to understand the genetic basis, we found that part of it may have to do with differential RNA splicing.
Lee and his team found that tumors present in black men varied from those found in whites because the tumors generate different proteins. These proteins can make the tumors more aggressive, according to the release.
The team also found that these types of proteins can lead to drug resistance.
We found that the protein isoforms expressed in African-Americans with prostate cancer do not always respond to targeted therapies, whereas these drugs were found to be effective in European Americans with prostate cancer and do end up killing off the cancer, Lee said in the release. This is a mechanism for drug resistance.
Lee said future research should examine the impact of genetic variations in other types of cancer to gain insight into why certain cancer treatments may be ineffective.
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The ambulatory care complex will house 125 exam, procedure and consult rooms and is expected to support 100,000 new outpatient visits per year, according to the U. Currently, ambulatory care is housed in the medical school building and has 114 exam and procedure rooms.
U. officials said Friday the new building won't serve a significantly higher number of patients, but that it will increase efficiency. Exam rooms, for example, can be used by any department at any time instead of being designated to a specific department as is currently the case, said Kathy Wilets, U. spokeswoman.
Mary Beth Scholand, outpatient chief value officer in the U.'s Department of Internal Medicine, said Friday that officials tried to design the building to improve patient experience.
The focus was "to create a pleasant, inviting space for our patients, where they feel comfortable and where clinic flow is efficient and easy," Scholand said. "And I think we've achieved this."
Construction on a 170,000 square-foot rehabilitation hospital, also currently housed in the medical school building, will begin in about six months and is estimated to cost $95 million. Funding for this building will come from operating revenue bonds and private donations.
The rehab hospital also will be completed in summer 2019. Once patients are moved from the medical school building to the two new buildings, the medical school will be demolished. This is expected to cost $12 million and take six months, officials said.
At that point, construction will begin on the third and final building. The 350,000 square-foot Medical Education and Discovery building will go up where the current medical school is located. It will house the medical school, the Global Health Institute and "collaborative spaces for clinicians, researchers and students," according to the U.'s website.
Officials estimate the building will cost $185 million, paid for through $50 million from the state Legislature and $135 million of private donations. The expected completion date is the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022.
"After about 2021, there's not going to be any other place to build on this campus," Betz joked Friday.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Gordon Crabtree, CFO and interim CEO of U. Health, recognition of former Health Sciences Vice President Vivian Lee's contributions to the project was met with applause.
Lee resigned in April after weeks of turmoil that began with her firing of Huntsman Cancer Institute CEO and director Mary Beckerle, who later was reinstated by the U. President David Pershing. Betz, Lee's predecessor, quickly was brought in to serve in her role until a permanent replacement is picked.
"Without [Lee's] community involvement, legislative support and vision for these facilities, this whole transformation initiative would not have gained traction and we thank her for that," Crabtree said.
Twitter @alexdstuckey
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Construction begins on first of three buildings to replace U. Med ... - Salt Lake Tribune
One hundred and ninety newly minted MDs marked a critical milestone in their professional lives earlier this week when they became medical residents of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
After graduation from medical school, medical residents are matched with a residency program, where they train in a medical or surgical specialty from three to seven years.The residents who took part in the long white coat ceremony on June 27 in the Center for Tomorrow chose to start their careers as physicians in Buffalo at UB. They will provide patient care under the supervision of UB medical school faculty in Western New Yorks hospitals and clinics.
The long white coat is not only a symbol of the profession, but it also symbolizes the trust patients place in their physicians and the responsibility to act professionally while serving patients and the public, says Roseanne Berger, senior associate dean for graduate medical education in the medical school and associate professor of family medicine.
To celebrate the transition, UBs newest medical residents donned the long white coats that indicate they have graduated from medical school, leaving behind the short white coats they received when they entered medical school.
At the ceremony, medical residents recited the Hippocratic Oath and the UB Resident Code of Conduct.The ceremony took place on Education Day, during which residents received information on topics ranging from health issues in Buffalos population and communication and cultural issues to patient privacy, quality improvement and safety. There also was a focus on resident well-being, highlighting institutional support resources and advice from current residents.
It was part of UBs five-day medical resident orientation, which includes background on UB, the Western New York community, its population and its health care systems. During orientation, residents visited UB-affiliated teaching hospitals, interacted with program faculty and, in some cases, worked with UBs Clinical Competency Center to assess interactions, with actors playing patients. Before arriving on campus, residents completed online tutorials, including modules on addiction, pain medicine and safe prescribing practices.
This years class of residents of 81 women and 109 men includes 120 U.S. citizens and 70 citizens of at least 17 other countries, including 24 from Canada, nine from Pakistan and six from India.
Forty of the new residents are UB alumni 32 graduated from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and eight graduated from the School of Dental Medicine.
The long white coat ceremony was planned in collaboration with UBs Richard Sarkin/Emeritus Faculty Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, which launched the tradition of holding white coat ceremonies in the 1990s to symbolize that humanism remains at the core of all medical care.UB is one of only 14 medical residency programs in the U.S. that is home to a residency chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
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UB medical school welcomes 190 new physicians to WNY - University at Buffalo Reporter
By Denise StewartFor The Birmingham Times
Briana Kinsey grew up performing on stages and in summer camps around Birmingham. Now as the newly crowned Miss District of Columbia, the Hoover native prepares for the biggest stage of her life the Miss America Pageant.
Im just thankful for the opportunity, she said. There are a lot of deadlines, and there is a lot of work to do, but its all worth it.
Shes balancing her pageant participation with a hectic schedule that includes working in a doctors office and studying at American University in preparation for medical school.
Participating in the Miss America Pageant has been a longtime dream for Kinsey, who has competed in the Miss Alabama Pageant five times and was first runner-up in 2015. She decided to compete in the Miss District of Columbia pageant after moving to the area last year.
While the cameras often focus on the glitter of fashionable clothes and the shining lights of the talent stage, the pageant for Kinsey is more about her personal platform, goals and the college scholarships, she said.
My platform is Daring to Defeat Diabetes, and Im committed to that, whether Im in a pageant or not, she said. Its my lifes mission.
Kinsey has raised thousands for diabetes research and awareness, and she has also enlisted youngsters in helping spread the word.
Every day more than 29.1million Americans deal with diabetes, she said. I have a family history with the disease both on my mothers side and my fathers side.
She knows diabetes can be deadly, but says it can also be prevented with changes in diet and lifestyle.
Currently, Kinsey is taking post-baccalaureate classes to prepare for medical school. She plans to become a pediatric endocrinologist.
Kinsey graduated from Hoover High School and went on to the University of Alabama where she majored in Biology.
The Village
Kinseys parents Robert and Dr. Velda Pugh Kinsey quickly reflect on the village when talking about their daughters success, referring to the African proverb It takes a village to raise a child.
So many people have encouraged and supported Briana over the years, her mother said.
At Sixth Avenue Baptist Church she grew up singing in the childrens choirs and the youth choir. She also took dance and piano and was captain of the dance team at Hoover High School.
Her teachers and coaches took time to help Briana develop her skills.
We tried sports for a while. Gymnastics didnt work, her mother said. But performing helped young Briana shake off some of her early shyness. On stage she took to singing, dancing and acting.
She began competing in pageants around 13 years old.
She chose to participate in pageants that were more about poise, her mother said. Some of the early pageants didnt include makeup.
That experience laid a foundation.
Whats Next
Briana Kinsey will return to Birmingham in late July to host a Mother/Daughter Tea at Samford University. Its a fundraiser for the Childrens Miracle Network, the national charitable focus this year for the Miss America Pageant.
Briana wants to share her experiences and encourage other young ladies and their families, her mother said. Set your goals, and with the help of God and the village, you can keep achieving.
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Birmingham native crowned Miss DC, preparing for medical school - Birmingham Times
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AUSTIN (KXAN) The University of Texass Dell Medical School welcomed its newest class Thursday. Only one percent of applicants were accepted into the program and most of them are from Texas and women.
Each one has a special reason for attending medical school. As a kid, Hannah Rosenthal spent hours in doctors appointments. She wasnt sick, it was for her big sister, Rebecca.
She has whats called West Syndrome, Rosenthal said. She had seizures when she was a baby. It left her severely neurologically impaired.
It is one reason why Rosenthal, an Army veteran, is part of the incoming class of Dell Medical students.
She had some great doctors, she said. That really drew me to medicine.
Rosenthal is one of 50 students in the class, 60 percent of whom are women. That is higher than the 49 percent national average of other medical schools.
Twenty-three-year-old Tucker Pope grew up watching his mother treat patients. It was the inspiration he needed to apply to the program.The Lubbock resident is like 90 percent of the class, who are from Texas.
I want to practice my career here and I want to be here helping the people of Texas, Pope said.
Altogether the incoming class has racked up hours of community service, research and health care activities, like shadowing doctors and volunteering at nursing homes before they were accepted into the program.
Spending time working with adults who have parents who financially and physically cannot support them, thats what really opened my eyes, Rosenthal said, who volunteered at a residential center for people with special needs in Houston. Working at the center, I had trouble sleeping at night when I truly realized how big of an issue it was.
All of the students receive some form of financial assistance, including scholarships to attend medical school. Nearly 20 percent are minorities underrepresented in medicine. Nearly 5,000 people applied for the program this year. Classes begin on Monday.
Read profiles of four of the incoming class of medical students here.
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UT's Dell Medical School welcomes new class of mostly female ... - KXAN.com
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Myron Rolle has accomplished many things on and off the field. His biggest ones, though, might still be coming up.
Rolles dream of becoming a doctor came to fruition on May 20 when he graduated from Florida States College of Medicine. The former All-American safety and Rhodes Scholar has not had much time to reflect on the accomplishment. He moved to Boston at the beginning of June and will start his residency at the Harvard Medical Schools neurosurgery program at Massachusetts General Hospital on July 1.
It felt great to graduate, said Rolle, 30. It put the finishing touches on an incredible and blessed story.
While growing up in Galloway, N.J., Rolle looked up to two people Dr. Ben Carson, who was a renowned neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital before entering politics, and Deion Sanders. When Rolle was in the fifth grade, he received a copy of Carsons book, Gifted Hands, and has been interested in neurosurgery ever since.
While being recruited by Florida State, which is where Sanders rose to fame, Rolle told then-coach Bobby Bowden and defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews about his goals to go to the NFL, become a Rhodes Scholar and become a neurosurgeon.
He was one of the most disciplined players who was focused on doing things the right way that I have coached, Andrews said. How many people have an opportunity to excel in sports and academia? His motivation to excel in the classroom was every bit as strong as on the field.
In November 2008, Rolle made headlines when he interviewed in Birmingham, Alabama, as a Rhodes Scholar finalist and then flew to Maryland, where the Seminoles were playing the University of Maryland. Rolle got the scholarship and played in the game after arriving during the second quarter. At the end of the season, he was named to the third team of the Associated Press All-America squad. He earned his undergraduate degree in 2 years.
Being on the other side of the fence now working for a football team, you always want a guy that looks the part, can lead vocally and by example. Myron did the best of both, said Ochuko Jenije, a former teammate of Rolles who is a student-athlete development director at North Carolina.
Bowden said Rolle is one of those players who might come once in a lifetime in coaching and that he was proud to see his former player reach his goals.
After spending 2009 studying at Oxford, where he got his masters in medical anthropology, Rolle was drafted in the sixth round by Tennessee in 2010. His NFL career was short, lasting less than three seasons. Rolle spent one season on the practice squad and was released in 2011. He was signed by Pittsburgh in 2012 but was cut in the preseason. He never played in a regular-season game.
Rolle entered medical school in 2013 and hasnt looked back. Many of the traits that made him successful in football translated to medicine. Rolle said that when he interviewed with hospitals for residencies, he heard that being an athlete would come in handy as a doctor. Now he sees why.
You have to be able to be part of a team and stick to the fundamentals, he said. You have to be prepared and perform under pressure. A lot of the same joy and adrenaline rush that I felt after making a good play or winning in football I feel now after a successful surgery.
John Fogarty, dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine, said what made Rolle stand out during medical school was his ability to accomplish each task. (AP)
He is such an incredibly humble young man who worked very well with his classmates, Fogarty said. He is a wonderful teammate because medicine and surgery relies a lot on teamwork.
He really doesnt fit the description of a prototypical surgeon rough and gruff. He can sit with patients and family members and discuss all the options. Between head trauma and injuries, those are often difficult discussions.
Rolles primary interest remains pediatric neurosurgery, but at Harvard he also will be at the epicenter of concussion research. Harvard has partnered with the National Football League on concussion and the players union on a long-term health study looking at players after they retire.
Besides the effect on football players, Rolle thinks the concussion research could benefit soccer players and soldiers who suffer traumatic brain injuries in the field.
While Rolle thinks his first-hand experience as an athlete can serve as a benefit into research, that wasnt the reason why he thinks Boston is a good fit.
I got along with everyone and felt good about them. I felt like I was joining a team, he said.
Rolles goals remain centered on young people, including opening clinics in low-income countries that do not have a pediatric neurosurgeon. With the start of his residency, Rolle sees it as another step in an interesting journey.
The process of getting here and sharing my story has been very exciting, he said. Everyone that I have worked and played with has been a part of it.
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Ex-FSU star Myron Rolle ready to begin med school residency - The Philadelphia Tribune
Starting next year, Montana medical students entering the WWAMI doctor-training program will have to either promise to work in the state for three years or else pay $31,000 in higher fees.
The new law, Senate Bill 341 passed by the 2017 Legislature, will require WWAMI medical students to promise theyll return to work in Montana within a year after finishing their training, or else pay higher fees.
The new fee requirement will begin with the class entering in the fall of 2018.
Montana medical students already are required to pay $5,224 a year into the Montana Rural Physician Incentive Program, or MRPIP, often called Mr. Pip.
The MRPIP fund was created to offer financial incentives to new doctors so they will practice medicine in Montanas rural and underserved communities. They can earn up to $100,000 over five years, which helps pay back often huge medical school loans typically $180,000 for Montana medical grads.
Today Montana medical students pay the $5,224 a year fee, or $20,896 over four years of medical school, into the rural doctor incentive fund.
Under the new law, if medical students decide against promising to work in Montana, they must pay fees two and a half times greater $13,060 a year. That adds up to $52,240 over four years.
And under the new law, if students commit to work in Montana, but later break that promise, they must repay full state support for their education. That would cost approximately $55,000 a year for three years, or a total of $165,000, the legislative fiscal analyst estimated.
No one knows yet if the new law will affect future student applications to Montanas WWAMI program.
It could have been a lot worse, Martin Teintze, WWAMI program director at Montana State University, said of the student fee hike. Were not happy it happened this way, but we cant say its unreasonable.
WWAMI stands for the states Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho that work together to offer students from rural states, too small to support their own medical schools, to train under the leadership of the University of Washingtons highly regarded medical school.
Montana has been a partner since WWAMI began in 1971. The program, based at MSU and housed at Bozeman Health hospital, calls itself Montanas Medical School. In 2011, the Legislature agreed after years of debate to expand the number of students accepted into WWAMI each year from 20 to 30.
The 2017 Legislature, faced with a state revenue shortage, cut budgets for most state programs, including the Montana University System.
They threatened to cut the (WWAMI) program back to 20 students, Teintze said. That would have been much worse. It would have had a long-term impact on our ability to train new doctors.
Instead of cutting back on WWAMIs training slots, he said, legislators raided the rural doctor incentive fund.
The Legislature took money from the incentive fund to pay for inflation in WWAMIs costs and medical residency training for new doctors.
As a result of that raid, there may not be enough money in the fund this year to offer MRPIP incentives to new doctors, Teintze said. However, there is expected to be enough to pay doctors who signed up in the past.
The shortage in the MRPIP fund should be temporary, he said, because every year medical students pay fees into the fund and replenish it. And with the new law, some students will pay more than before.
This is a much better deal than students in Alaska and Wyoming have been living with quite some time, Teintze said. Those states require all medical students to return to practice within the state, and if students dont, they have to pay back large sums.
Our students have an option, Teintze said. And because Montana tuition for the first 18 months of med school is so low, he said, even with the higher MRPIP fee, students are likely to pay no more than average for medical school.
The new law also preserves Montana students eligibility for federal military, Indian Health Service or National Health Service scholarships.
Its unfortunate, but in the long term we can survive it, Teintze said.
Historically 41 percent of Montana WWAMI students have returned to Montana to practice, he said. When students from Washington, Idaho and other states are added in, the return of WWAMI students to Montana grows to 57 percent.
It makes students have to make a really hard choice, said Tracy Ellig, MSU spokesman. They have to be really confident theyre going to come back. To be honest, the speculation is that most students will not choose this (promise-to-return option) and will pay the higher fee (figuring that) Im still going to get a deal.
Montana WWAMIs Class of 2013, the first to enroll 30 students, just graduated, Teintze said. He said the staff is excited because a large number are going into primary care, rather than medical specialties. Nine chose family medicine.
These are the kind of physicians Montana needs most, he said. Three years from now, when they finish residency, I think well see a lot return to Montana.
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WWAMI medical students must work in Montana or pay higher fees - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Exodus 18:20 (The Israel Bible)
Laying the cornerstone for the new medical center set to open at Ariel University in Samaria. (Photo: David Michael Cohen/TPS)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, ArielMayor Elyahu Shaviroand a host of dignitaries laid the cornerstone for Israels newest medical school Wednesday, saying the new faculty at Ariel University would become an integral part of Israels academic and healthcare landscape.
The doctors who will graduate the faculty of medicine at Ariel will heal the sick for many years, and the medical school itself will heal the open wounds in Israeli society and between us [Jews] and our neighbors [Palestinians], said Bennett, This is a place for Israelis of all backgrounds to meet and interact. Secular and religious; Jews and Arabs; rich and poor.
This is a great day for the future of medicine in Israel and for the city of Ariel. The city is on the map, and it will always be on the map, Bennett told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
Bennett, one of the main supporters of the project, and Netanyahu both made reference to the heterogeneous student population at the university, and both said the medical school would help bridge gaps between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between different sectors of the Israeli populace.
[This is an] open and pluralistic institution, where Jews and non-Jews cooperate, which reflects the true spirit of the State of Israel, said Netanyahu. We are building in Ariel and Ariel will always be part of Israel.
The university, previously known as the Ariel public college, is home tomore than 15,000 students and 300 faculty members. In the field of health sciences, the university already offers a pre-med program and 30 research labs studying a variety of communication disorders, physiotherapy, and nutritional sciences.
The new medical faculty, Israels sixth, will be named after Sheldon Adelson, the American billionaire, owner of theIsrael Hayomfreesheet and long-time supporter of Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his Israeli-born wife, Miriam. According toIsrael Hayom,the Adelsons couple donated $5 million to the medical school, nearly a quarter of the estimated$28.4 million price tag.
According to the Israel Medical Association, Israel faces a severe healthcare crisis largely due to a lack of both licensed medical personnel and training vacancies for students. Accordingly, students often move abroad to study medicine or are more likely to choose from more lucrative professions in their studies.
Ariel Mayor Shaviro described the medical school as a breakthrough for the residents of the city and the entire region, all of whom will benefit from the institution.
When I worked in New York, I met Dr. [Arthur] Sackler and I was overwhelmed to meet the man who permitted me to study medicine [at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University], said Dr. Miriam Adelson at the ceremony. So for me this is coming full circle, and we are happy and thankful to Ariel University for giving us the opportunity to give back to the community.
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PM Netanyahu: City of Ariel "Will Always Be Part of Israel" - Breaking Israel News
Somehow, time has passed, and this is my last entry on Stanford Medicine Unplugged.
It feels like just months ago that my classmates and I arrived on campus, only to pack our bags immediately and head off into the woods for our orientation camping trip. I remember seeing a baby bear, followed closely by its mother, and subsequently huddling in my tent with a fellow classmate, too afraid to venture back into the dark.
It feels like just weeks ago that we finished our pre-clerkship exams and hung out in front of the Li Ka Shing Center, enjoying the sunshine and one anothers company. It was soon after that we disappeared into our Step 1 study caves and emerged weeks later paler, thinner, and in some of the boys cases, hairier to start third year or take gap years.
It feels like just days ago that I started my very first clinical rotation and had no idea how to write an admission note or a discharge summary. To this day, I recall the kindness of the three residents who patiently walked me through every step of every day on that rotation, slowly molding my uncertainties into what, if you squinted, almost resembled confidence.
It feels like just this past weekend that I uploaded my personal statement and CV to ERAS, only to read and re-read my application obsessively before finally working up the courage to hit submit. How surreal it feels to be done with interviews, and to have matched.
It feels like just yesterday that I stood proudly beside my family at graduation, thrilled to be able to share this special day with them, to tell my dad that Yes, there truly are no more tuition bills to be paid, and to finally be able to add that MD to the end of my name.
As I think back on the past four years, I want to thank the audience of SM Unplugged for allowing me to share my journey through medical school, from the inaugural entry back in January 2014 to this final entry of mine, three and a half years later. Youve given me the chance to reflect on both the highs and lows of medical school, and youve helped me remember what a privilege it is to be a physician, to see others in what are often the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Thank you so much.
Stanford Medicine Unplugged is a forum for students to chronicle their experiences in medical school. The student-penned entries appear on Scope once a week during the academic year; the entire blog series can be found in the Stanford Medicine Unpluggedcategory.
Hamsika Chandrasekar recently graduated fromStanfords medical school.
Photoscourtesy of Hamsika Chandrasekar
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Goodbye: Looking back on four years of medical school - Scope (blog)
The new medical school is taking shape in Meridian.
Construction on the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine began in May. A steel frame can be seen from Interstate 84 between the Meridian Road and Eagle Road exits.
The college, which is still in the accreditation process, plans to open in August 2018 for a class of 150 students. It shares a campus with the Idaho State University Meridian Health Science Center, but it is a private, separate entity.
The $34 million facility will have three stories and 94,000 square feet.
While our contractors move steadily outside, we are diligently working inside to ensure we have the right staff in place, the curriculum ready and our classrooms prepared to open our doors next summer, stated Dr. Robert Hasty, ICOM founding dean and chief academic officer.
Meridian-based Engineered Structures Inc. (ESI) is building the facility. ESI has a camera that captures the buildings progress every 10 minutes. Photos can be seen at app.oxblue.com/open/idaho/collegeofosteopathic.
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Construction underway on Meridian medical school - Meridian Press
I practiced the words in my head one more time before I picked up the phone and dialed. When my patients son answered, I froze for a moment, imagining the roles were reversed and I was about to receive the news that I had to give him. After collecting my thoughts, I introduced myself, reminding him that we had met the previous night.
Then I said: Im calling with bad news. Your fathers illness worsened this morning. He is going to die. I encourage you and your family to come to the hospital as soon as possible to say goodbye.
My patients son will probably remember this phone call for years. I still remember everything about it six months later. It was only the third time Id had to tell someone that their loved one was dying. Looking back on the conversation now, Im glad that I prepared for it. But I am also concerned to realize that the practical steps I took get the facts, write out the objective, address my own emotions, prepare for possible reactions, practice aloud came not from my medical training but from a business-school course on hiring and firing employees.
Like most doctors, I spent four years in medical school learning to treat hundreds of illnesses and help patients manage their health. I spent very little of this time learning how to work with patients when modern medicine runs out of miracles and only a few hours, spread over four years, learning to lead end-of-life conversations and deliver bad news.
This breakdown is typical of medical education across the country. A recent study of medical curricula, published last year in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, found that the average time dedicated to end-of-life care is 13 hours spread across multiple courses over four years. In a recent survey of graduating medical students, 42% reported that they were never taught how to talk to patients about dying, and 48% reported that they never received feedback on how they deliver bad news.
No doubt this is one reason why so many people have personal stories of the I cant believe my doctor said that to me variety. Just the other day, I listened as one of my patients described the anger she felt when, days before her husband died of cancer, a doctor checked his phone while they were discussing her husbands treatment.
By contrast, many business leaders direct much of their energy toward mastering the art of difficult conversations. As one of my business school professors liked to say, leadership is all about getting the details right in critical conversations.
Why do medical schools devote so little time to cultivating these communication skills in their students? Few conversations are of greater consequence than those in which a doctor must tell someone their loved one is dying. Our conversational shortcomings in these moments prevent patients from understanding difficult diagnoses, leading some to pursue futile end-of-life treatments that do not increase the quality or duration of their lives.
There isnt one way to teach these skills, but a handful of medical schools are pointing the way forward. Weill Cornell Medical College requires all students to complete a two-week palliative care clerkship. During the course, students are relieved of clinical responsibility so that they can focus on improving end-of-life care. At Stanford University School of Medicine, 20 students a year take Managing Difficult Conversations, a class in which students role-play challenging scenarios. Courses like these should be required at all medical schools.
Recently, I found myself on the other side of an end-of-life conversation. My grandmother was in an intensive care unit, and my grandfather called me in a frantic state because he couldnt figure out what was happening.
I called the hospital and got through to a nurse, who relayed every detail: The amount my grandmothers blood pressure had dropped, the number of times she was given epinephrine, the rounds of CPR. After what felt like an eternity, I finally asked: She died, didnt she? Her answer: Yes. The nurse had spent so much time on the details, she had forgotten to tell me the only thing I needed to know.
After I got off the phone, I practiced what I needed to say to my family. Then I called them and said it: Grandma died.
One of my most respected business professors someone with more than 60 years of experience in his profession told me he still practices difficult conversations before he has them. It helps him clarify his goals and the means by which he can achieve them. Medical schools need to teach doctors to do the same.
Tom Roberts is an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He received his MD/MBA from Stanford University.
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A proposed medical school at the University of Louisiana in Monroe could offer an alternative path to a healthcare career.
Within two years, ULM could offer a doctor of osteopathy degree in conjunction with the New York Institute of Technology.
The Louisiana Board of Regents has approved a license for the New York school to operate a medical school on the ULM campus, but the schools must work out details of the partnership.
Osteopathy schools offer the same foundation in science and health as programs like the LSU medical schools in Shreveport and Monroe that offer MD degrees, said Dr. Jane Eggerstedt, vice dean of the Shreveport medical school.
Both types of medical schools require entrance exams, and applicants have at least a bachelor's degree. Doctors of osteopathy and medical doctors undergo three to seven years of additional training in residencies and fellowships after graduating from medical school.
The key difference is in the traditional approach each of the programs takes.
"The DO philosophy, and again, speaking from the MD side, they would say that they have a greater holistic approach, that they look at how the different systems work and intertwine with each other," Eggerstedt said.
DO graduates also tend to go into general medicine more. Fifty to 60 percent of doctors of osteopathy end up in general fields, compared with about 30 percent of MD graduates, according to Eggerstedt.
There are 33 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States. Six are publicly operated and the rest privately operated. This year, more than 27,000 students -- about 20 percent of all medical students nationwide -- attended a college of osteopathic medicine.
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Proposed Monroe medical school offers different approach to medicine - KTBS