Use of Omics Technologies to Help Understand the Microbiome and Probiotic Functionality – Video

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Use of Omics Technologies to Help Understand the Microbiome and Probiotic Functionality
In this clip (5 of 10), Dr. Hibberd discusses omics tools as applied to studying the microbiome and probiotics, and some of the associated research challenge...

By: NCCAMgov

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Use of Omics Technologies to Help Understand the Microbiome and Probiotic Functionality - Video

Does Medical School Need a Fast Track?

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For Travis Hill, it was an offer too good to refuse.

Last year when the 30-year-old neuroscientist was admitted to a new program at New York University that would allow him to complete medical school in only three years and guarantee him a spot in its neurosurgery residency, he seized it. Not only would Hill save about $70,000 the cost of tuition and living expenses for the fourth year of medical school he would also shave a year off the training that will consume the next decade of his life.

Im not interested in being in school forever, said Hill, who earned a Ph.D from the University of California at Davis in June 2013 and started med school in Manhattan a few weeks later. Just knowing where youre going to be for residency is huge. So is Hills student loan debt: about $200,000, dating back to his undergraduate days at the University of Massachusetts. And he wont begin practicing until he is 40.

The chance to finish medical school early is attracting increased attention from students burdened with six-figure education loans: The median debt for medical school graduates in 2013 was $175,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. This year, the combined cost of tuition and fees for a first-year medical student ranges from just over $12,000 to more than $82,000.

Some medical school administrators and policymakers see three-year programs as a way to produce physicians, particularly primary-care doctors, faster as the new health-care law funnels millions of previously uninsured patients into the medical system. Enormous student loans are cited as one reason some newly minted doctors choose lucrative specialties such as radiology or dermatology, which pay twice as much as pediatrics or family medicine.

But debt and the shortage of primary-care doctors are not the only factors fueling interest in accelerated programs.

Some influential experts are raising questions about the length of medical school in part because much of the fourth year is devoted to electives and applying for a residency, a process that typically takes months. (Similar questions are being raised about the third year of law school.)

In a piece published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2012, University of Pennsylvania Vice Provost Ezekiel Emanuel and Stanford economist Victor Fuchs proposed that a year of medical school could be eliminated without adversely affecting academic performance. The overall time it takes to train physicians, they wrote, is an example of waste in medical education and could be shortened without affecting patient care or eroding clinical skills; students could be assessed on core competencies rather than on time served.

A 2010 report by the Carnegie Foundation recommended that fast-tracking be considered.

So far, fewer than a dozen of the nations 124 medical schools are offering or actively considering three-year programs, which typically involve the elimination of electives, attendance at summer classes and the provisional guarantee of a residency offered because three-year graduates might be at a disadvantage compared with other applicants.

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Does Medical School Need a Fast Track?

NRMP/ECFMG Publish Charting Outcomes in the Match for International Medical Graduates, Characteristics of Applicants …

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Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 15, 2014

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) are pleased to announce the publication of "Charting Outcomes in the Match for International Medical Graduates, Characteristics of Applicants Who Matched to Their Preferred Specialty in the 2013 Main Residency Match," a report that highlights the characteristics of international medical school students and graduates (IMGs) who matched to their preferred specialties in the Main Residency Match. An IMG is a physician who receives a basic medical degree or qualification from a medical school located outside the United States and Canada.

NRMP Executive Director Mona M. Signer said, 'Charting Outcomes in the Match for International Medical Graduates' is intended to be a resource to help IMGs make educated choices as they apply to and rank residency programs in the Main Residency Match. ECFMG President & Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Cassimatis, M.D., commented, This resource provides data that are both recent and detailed about IMGs who succeeded in their pursuit of U.S. residency positions. It is an important addition to the knowledge base available to IMGs who are pursuing U.S. residencies in 2014 and beyond. In 2013, 34,355 medical students and graduates participated in the Main Residency Match. IMGs accounted for more than one-third (36.8%) of the applicant pool, including 7,568 non-U.S. citizen IMGs and 5,095 U.S. citizen IMGs.

"Charting Outcomes in the Match for International Medical Graduates" is a collaborative publication of the NRMP and the ECFMG. It is modeled after "Charting Outcomes in the Match," a biennial report published by the NRMP and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) that describes the characteristics of U.S. allopathic senior students and independent applicants who matched to their preferred specialties in the Main Residency Match.

"Charting Outcomes in the Match International Medical Graduates" utilizes a different set of measures from the original "Charting Outcomes in the Match." Some applicant characteristics, such as number of contiguous ranks, number of specialties ranked, and USMLE scores are included in both reports, but other characteristics that are relevant only to IMGs were added, including:

Summary

Overall, 48 percent of U.S. IMGs matched to their preferred specialty, ranging from 59 percent (Anesthesiology) to 28 percent (Emergency Medicine). For non-U.S. IMGs, the overall match rate was 44 percent, ranging from 53 percent (Pathology) to 32 percent (Family Medicine). In general, U.S. IMG applicants are more successful in matching to their preferred specialty than are non-U.S. IMGs.

The report showed that IMG applicants who are successful in matching to their preferred specialty are more likely to:

Other measures appear to be related to match success, but the relationships are not strong enough to draw broad conclusions across specialties. Data sources used in the report do not include other important applicant factors such as course evaluations, reference letters, and the Medical School Performance Evaluation. Despite the strong relationship between USMLE Step scores and match success, the distributions of scores show that programs consider other qualifications, and high USMLE scores are not a guarantee of success. Even in the most competitive specialties, a few individuals with higher scores are not successful. Neither is a lower score a bar to success.

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Medical School hosts town halls to talk promotion

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Even doctors need a reminder that in order to succeed, you have to ask for what you want.

Margaret Gyetko, the senior associate dean for faculty and faculty development at the University Medical School, held a seminar Tuesday to address the ways that the Medical Schools faculty members can best earn promotions and tenure.

The meeting was part of a series hosted by the schools dean, James Woolliscroft, as a way to promote interaction between the Medical School community and its leadership. The series of town halls supplement issues raised in Woolliscrofts State of the School presentation, which was held in September.

This event was Gyetkos seventh seminar on the topic. The idea for the series first emerged after she received large numbers of poorly prepared promotion packages from the schools faculty.

I had been getting a lot of applications where it was very clear to me that (the applicants) were smart and talented, but they didnt know how to plan ahead in a way best conducive to achieving promotions, Gyetko said. You know, we have an amazing and brilliant faculty, but the only way to win the game is to know the rules, and know if youre ahead or behind.

The seminar focused on what aspects are most valued and scrutinized by the schools leadership when making decisions about promotions of faculty members.

Gyetkos talk focused on different ways that faculty could prepare their promotion packages to make themselves most appealing, as well as the types of goals they try to achieve that would make them ideal candidates for a promotion in the future.

Gyetko added that the timeline to obtain a promotion is long and cannot be rushed in the five years before a faculty member requests career advancement. She also said its important for faculty to understand that moving up is natural and that they should strive for it.

During the seminar, Gyetko said she recommends cultivating relationships with people in the same field, following through on promises and ensuring preparedness for the added responsibilities that accompany a promotion. She also drew attention to a program available at the Medical School to help faculty assess their readiness before beginning to prepare promotion packages.

The entire lecture is available for viewing on the UMHS website.

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Medical School hosts town halls to talk promotion