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‘No one can tell you that you can’t’: Fort Worth medical student born with one hand is overcoming barriers – WFAA.com

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Danzig

FORT WORTH, Texas Medical school will test you. It will push your endurance, your ability to think critically and it will exhaust you.

But for second-year medical student Taylor Orcutt, the challenge is sometimes even greater than what you would imagine.

"While the days are long," she said, "Thinking about what I can do in the future and the people I can helpthat makes it all worth it."

In her classes at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Orcutt often has to find ways to make her medical education work for her. It's how she does things.

"Sometimes it takes a little extra practice," she said.

It's how she's always done things.

Orcutt was born with just one hand. Her left arm ends at the elbow.

Taylor was born with her left hand

Courtesy

"Really the first time that it really stuck out was in kindergarten," she recalled. "Whenever we went to the playground, all my friends could do the monkey bars and I couldn't, and that was like the most devastating thing to me."

But she always found ways to adapt to her physical parameters. Orcutt, who grew up near Temple, excelled at athletics, from soccer to volleyball-- even basketball.

"I could always tell the other team would be like, we don't need to worry about her," Orcutt said.

She was so good at those sports, she was profiled by the local news.

"I ended up actually doing pretty well and they're like, OK, maybe we need to rethink this," she said, laughing.

Taylor Orcutt played volleyball growing up

Courtesy photo

That's not to say, though, she didn't worry about her lifelong dream to become a doctor.

"Since it is a lot of hands-on stuff," Orcutt said.

"We have just a list of things that future doctors need to be able to do as far as standards, physical exams, procedures," said Dr. Ryan Seals, one of Orcutt's medical school professors.

He says any concerns about Orcutt performing the physical duties needed to become a doctor because of her challenge quickly faded. She's excelled at it all, learning to intubate or give exams with one hand.

"I think the fact she's had to be so focused and [use ingenuity] her whole life has probably proved to be an advantage to her," Dr. Seals said.

Taylor is a second-year medical student.

WFAA

Classmate and friend Callie Nance sung Orcutt's praises.

"How she looks at everything so differently and sees things in more than one way, that's really inspiring and honestly a lot of us could learn from that," Nance said.

Orcutt even co-founded a new club at her school that prepares medical students on how best to interact with patients who have challenges, physical or otherwise.

"I feel like if you think you could do it, no one can tell you, you can't," Orcutt said.

Wouldn't we all be so lucky to have a doctor who sees the world and sees you-- that way.

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'No one can tell you that you can't': Fort Worth medical student born with one hand is overcoming barriers - WFAA.com

Three Tulanians honored with STEM awards – News from Tulane

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Danzig

Dr. Anjali Niyogi of Tulane Medical School, left, Kimberly Foster, dean of the Tulane School of Science and Engineering and Dr. Sonia Malhotra, also of Tulane Medical School, were among 10 females honored with 2020 Women in STEM awards by the American Heart Association and Entergy. (Photo by Karoline Glausier)

The dean of the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering and two faculty members from the Tulane School of Medicine are winners of the 2020 Women in STEM Award sponsored by the American Heart Association and Entergy.

Kimberly Foster, now in her second year as dean of science and engineering, joins Dr. Anjali Niyogi and Dr. Sonia Malhotra as three of the 10 winners of the inaugural awards.

"Let us as women leaders continue to push the boundaries of our fields.

Dr. Sonia Malhotra

The Women in STEM Awards, a program of the local chapter of the American Heart Association, recognize female leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitment and made an impact across New Orleans in the STEM field. The winners were celebrated for their work earlier this month at the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center.

"I am proud to be part of such a diverse group of accomplished women honored for their support of STEM in New Orleans," Foster said. It is wonderful to see women giving back to their community and paving the road for an increased STEM pipeline through mentorship, programming and achievement, Foster said.

Foster has focused on collaborating with the other Tulane deans to deepen the research collaborations among schools and to grow the research programs within science and engineering. Under her leadership, the school is also growing the opportunities for undergraduate research at Tulane. Foster is working with faculty in SSE on the design and programmatic planning for Steven & Jann Paul Hall, a multidisciplinary science & engineering building that will support research and education at Tulane, to be completed in 2022.

Niyogi is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine & Pediatrics. She is co-director of the RIGHT program (Resident Initiative in Global Health at Tulane) and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine. In 2015, Niyogi founded the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Clinic, which provides continuity of care for acute and chronic medical conditions to persons recently released from incarceration.

Niyogi credited her mother for the award. Starting in my childhood, I heard her speak about how she was one of three girls in her entire state to study engineering. This was in 1960s India. I learned from her how how to forge ahead even when others say you cannot, or should not.

Malhotra is also an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics. In addition, she is director of Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care, a program of the Tulane School of Medicine and University Medical Center New Orleans.

Malhotra has been recognized with various teaching and community awards including the Tulane Owl Club Award for Best Pediatrics Resident, the National Med-Peds Resident Associations Howard Schubiner Award and Resident of the Year in Pediatrics and Medicine-Pediatrics.

I dedicate this award to my family including my parents, husband and sons for always pushing me forth professionally and the mentors/coaches who have taken the time to make me better. Let us as women leaders continue to push the boundaries of our fields.

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Three Tulanians honored with STEM awards - News from Tulane

Will 2020 bring peace and harmony to Wayne State board? – Crain’s Detroit Business

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Danzig

Kelly said she has a plan to get the board back on better terms and end the constant in-fighting between the four-member faction that wants Wilson fired and the other four members who support Wilson and want to focus on regular university business, Kelly said.

"I certainly have a plan to do that. I am intent to listening to all sides of the conflict: students, faculty, administrators and board members," she said. "I am sitting down with people to talk and hear them out. I want to avoid the repetitions of conflict. I want to hear all sides and hear their positions."

If necessary, Kelly said there are nationally recognized experts that can help the board work through differences. "I am dedicated to making sure the university moves forward," she said.

So far, Kelly said she has met with several board members. "I already met twice with people and I plan to continue that as long as it takes. I am learning new things. You know, if you sit and listen carefully to someone you begin to pick up stuff you never heard of before. It is important that everyone hear and believe the facts."

Kelly said she believes Trent tried to listen to opposing board members. "Kim did have a good line of conversation before with board members, but timing is everything. There are times when people are not open to reconsidering their position. Then, with a change in circumstances, they are. This might be a better time."

When asked what goals she has for 2020, Kelly said her main goal is to listen to all points of view, keep communication lines open and oversee professional board meetings.

"I still hope we can pass a code of conduct" for the Wayne State board," she said. "We need to respond to Higher Learning Commission request of us by the end of March. I don't see why we can't comply."

Among numerous instances that illustrated the board's dysfunction over the past year, four of the board members have rejected the university's proposed code of conduct two times in the past six months. As Wayne State's accrediting body, the HLC issued a report that criticized the university for not having a code of conduct for the board.

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Will 2020 bring peace and harmony to Wayne State board? - Crain's Detroit Business

Homan: Primary care workforce | Perspective – Rutland Herald

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Danzig

After a decade of federal and state health-care reform efforts, each with its own catch phrase, acronyms and political perspective, there is one area of remarkable agreement. Any approach to increasing quality and decreasing cost is built on a strong foundation of primary care.

However, there simply arent enough primary-care providers in Vermont now, and the number is decreasing at an alarming rate. Strategies effective ones exist to avert this crisis. The problem is we are not implementing them in a significant or systematized way.

Primary care saves the health-care system money. People who have a primary-care provider are healthier, less likely to go to emergency rooms, and less costly to the health care system as a whole. Across Vermont, in communities where primary care is available, people get preventive care and management of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, close to home. They are more likely to keep their appointments, work on prevention and avoid hospitalizations. Primary-care providers call on specialists when necessary, but the vast majority of patient needs are taken care of locally. Cost and quality of health care both improve.

But the lack of primary-care providers in Vermont is a looming crisis. In rural Vermont, some practices have been unsuccessfully recruiting new physicians for more than six years. Recent workforce data shows there is a need for 69 new primary-care providers in Vermont right now. With 36% of Vermonts primary-care doctors over age 60, this need will only escalate. Vermont needs a multifaceted approach to increasing the number of primary-care providers across our state. The College of Medicine, UVM Medical Center, and the state, itself, all have a role.

There is good evidence we can predict which medical school applicants are likely to enter a primary-care field. The College of Medicine should prioritize those students for admission. They should establish a rural primary-care track, with free tuition in exchange for a commitment to practice in an underserved area of Vermont after graduation. It is critical to offer tuition assistance up front to committed students, since UVMs medical students graduate with as much as $400,000 of debt, which effectively rules out the choice of primary care due to comparatively low salaries in these fields. Some of the most successful models for such scholarship programs identify students likely to go into primary care early in their training, and provide early exposure to rural practices. UVMs School of Nursing could use similar selection and scholarship strategies, since there is also a serious shortage of nurses and primary-care nurse practitioners.

Although all primary-care specialties are needed in Vermont, a rural medicine track that focuses on family medicine is the most efficient way to fill the void. Ninety-two percent of family medicine graduates stay in primary care, whereas pediatricians and internists are more likely to pursue specialty training. In fact, only 44% of pediatricians and 14% of internal-medicine graduates stay in primary care. In addition, family physicians tend to have a broad scope of practice, with training that includes newborn to geriatric care, mental illness and office procedures. Family physicians have also taken a lead role in addressing the opiate crisis, integrating substance abuse programs into their practices across the state.

The State of Vermont and the Legislature have a role to play, too. Increasing loan repayment to attract providers to shortage areas would be a start, but there are other creative ideas for increasing the primary-care workforce: tax credits for providers who relocate to underserved areas, or for those who teach medical students in their rural practices; streamlining licensing requirements; relocation bonuses targeting out-of-state providers with a connection to Vermont (skiers, mountain bikers, second-home owners, UVM alumni, etc). And, ongoing attention to decreasing administrative burden in primary care allowing doctors to care for their patients rather than their computers will help combat provider burnout and attract out-of-state physicians.

One of the most powerful ways to increase the number of primary-care doctors is to increase the number we are training. Currently, of 319 medical residents in Vermont, only 18 are in family medicine. We train the same number of anesthesiologists as we do family physicians. Clearly, thats not a sustainable plan for meeting Vermonts health-care needs. UVM Medical Center should significantly increase the number of residency positions in primary care. As the only teaching hospital in Vermont, UVMMC should be invested in training the kind of doctors we need in our state.

We know that any strategy to provide better and less-costly health care will require a robust primary-care workforce. But we have nowhere near the number of providers we will need, and that number is shrinking rapidly. It will take a multifaceted, coordinated approach to bring an adequate primary-care workforce to our state. This effort will require focus and investment of resources by the state, the medical school and the medical center. Not addressing this problem will guarantee the failure of health-care reform efforts, ultimately making health care even more costly and less accessible to Vermonters.

Dr. Fay Homan is a family physician with Little Rivers Healthcare in Wells River, board member of Vermont Academy of Family Physicians, and serves on the Primary Care Advisory Group for the Green Mountain Care Board.

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Homan: Primary care workforce | Perspective - Rutland Herald

Study Explains Why Some Creams and Cosmetics May Cause a Skin Rash – Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Danzig

Allergic reactions in the skin can be caused by many different chemical compounds found in creams, cosmetics, and other topical consumer products, but how they trigger the reaction has remained somewhat mysterious.

A new study suggests the way some chemicals displace natural fat-like molecules (called lipids) in skin cells may explain how many common ingredients trigger allergic contact dermatitisand, encouragingly, suggests a new way to treat the condition.

The study was led by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the Brigham and Womens Hospital, and Monash University and published online today in Science Immunology.

Why some chemicals trigger dermatitis is a mystery

Poison ivy is a commonly known trigger for allergic contact dermatitis, an itchy skin rash. But many ingredients found in nonprescription topical products can trigger a similar type of rash.

An allergic reaction begins when the immune systems T cells recognize a chemical as foreign.

T cells do not directly recognize small chemicals, and research suggests that these compounds need to undergo a chemical reaction with larger proteins in order to make themselves visible to T cells.

However, many small compounds in skin care products that trigger allergic contact dermatitis lack the chemical groups needed for this reaction to occur, says study co-leader Annemieke de Jong, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

These small chemicals should be invisible to T cells, but theyre not.

Skin cells unmask allergy-inducing chemicals

De Jong and her colleagues suspected that CD1a, a molecule thats abundant on Langerhans cells (immune cells in the skins outer layer), might be responsible for making these chemicals visible to T cells.

In the current study, conducted with human cells in tissue culture, the researchers found that several common chemicals known to trigger allergic contact dermatitis were able to bind to CD1a molecules on the surface of Langerhans cells and activate T cells.

These chemicals included Balsam of Peru and farnesol, which are found in many personal care products, such as skin creams, toothpaste, and fragrances. Within Balsam of Peru, the researchers identified benzyl benzoate and benzyl cinnamate as the chemicals responsible for the reaction, and overall they identified more than a dozen small chemicals that activated T cells through CD1a.

Our work shows how these chemicals can activate T cells in tissue culture, but we have to be cautious about claiming that this is definitively how it works in allergic patients, de Jong says. The study does pave the way for follow-up studies to confirm the mechanism in allergic patients and design inhibitors of the response.

New ideas for treatment

CD1a molecules normally bind the skins own naturally occurring lipids in its tunnel-like interior. These lipids protrude from the tunnel, creating a physical barrier that prevents CD1a from interacting with T cells.

Structural work done at Monash University showed that farnesol, one of the allergens identified in this study, can hide inside the tunnel of CD1a, displacing the natural lipids that normally protrude from the CD1a molecule. This displacement makes the CD1a surface visible to the T cells, causing an immune reaction, de Jong says.

This discovery raises the possibility that allergic contact dermatitis could be stopped by applying competing lipids to the skin to displace those triggering the immune reaction. From previous studies, we know the identity of several lipids that can bind to CD1a but wont activate T cells, she says.

Currently, the only way to stop allergic contact dermatitis is to identify and avoid contact with the offending chemical. Topical ointments can help soothe the rashes, which usually clear up in less than a month. In severe cases, physicians may prescribe oral corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory agents that suppress the immune system, increasing the risk of infections and other side effects.

Are Application Costs Reducing Diversity in the Medical Field? – Medical Bag

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Danzig

Medical school application costs may prevent students from lower-income backgrounds from entering the profession of medicine, wrote authors in a review published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Although attending medical school is often prohibitively expensive for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, some schools have begun to offer need-based scholarships that cover most if not all costs of tuition. However, no such forms of assistance exist to aid students with the application process. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) has a $315 fee, and many students pay substantial costs for practice examinations or preparatory courses. According to a 2018 survey of students matriculating to medical school, median spending on secondary applications and interviews was $1200 and $650, respectively. Further, 33% of responders reported spending $2000 or more on secondary applications, and 30% indicated that they spent $1500 or more on interview-related expenses, including airline tickets, hotel bookings, and taxi fees. Authors also noted that approximately 19% of applicants in any given year are reapplying, meaning they often must pay these expenses multiple times.

These costs may contribute to the demographic disparities observed among medical school applicants, authors wrote. In 2018, just 9% of applicants identified as black, 10% as Hispanic, and less than 1% as American Indian or Alaska Native. Just 5% of applicants come from the lowest household-income quintile ($24,000 annually), while 25% report an annual family income of $250,000 or more. While programs exist to reduce application costs including the Fee Assistance Program (FAP), which reduces the Medical College Admission Tests cost and waives up to 20 primary application fees the authors assert that further measures must be taken. FAP, for example, fails to supplement interview-related costs and itself has a rigorous and confusing application process. Low-income applicants may be deterred by the complexity of the FAP application, which requires parents tax returns, W-2 forms, college financial-aid letters, and other documents.

Authors suggested that medical schools adjust their policies to improve inclusivity. The Association of Medical Colleges could limit the number of schools to which each applicant may apply. With such a cap, wealthier students would have less of an advantage over low-income students. Further, medical schools themselves could begin to invite secondary applications only from students they found to be strong candidates for admission. Currently, most medical schools invite all applicants to submit secondary applicants, incurring extra costs for those who do not progress to the next stages. Finally, authors endorsed the use of virtual interviews over in-person interviews to reduce travel and hotel fees. Many top law schools already do so, and for schools not ready to adopt virtual interviews, regional interviews could be conducted through alumni networks.

While need-based financial aid is a significant step toward accommodating students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it does not assist those unable to apply at all. The authors endorsed rigorous efforts to challenge current application procedures and diversifythe medical profession.

Reference

Millo L, Ho N, Ubel PA. The cost of applying to medical school a barrier to diversifying the profession. N Engl J Med. 2019;381:1505-1508.

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Are Application Costs Reducing Diversity in the Medical Field? - Medical Bag

I Have a Ph.D. in Not Having Money – The New York Times

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Danzig

Ms. Tomlinson said that with every expense she takes on now, such as a $20 dinner out, she calculates what she will have to pay off in 10 years, at 7 percent interest. She struggles to make rent on her student housing at Mount Sinai, which she said is more than she would pay for a family house in Oklahoma City, where she lived previously.

Randall Tassone, a medical student at Harvard, was raised in a low-income household in rural Pennsylvania. Now surrounded by wealthier classmates, many of them the children of doctors, Mr. Tassone has come to understand money as something intrinsic to medical school culture, structuring social as well as academic life. Earlier this year he walked past a classroom poster advertising a service trip; it included a student testimonial: It was nice to feel like we did something to help the poor community.

It was identifying the poor as outsiders who arent part of our community, Mr. Tassone said. It made him realize, he said, Ive been invited into this institution that favors rich people.

Mr. Johnson said he experienced almost daily reminders of his socioeconomic status. A professor recently asked students, as an icebreaker, to describe their favorite family vacation spot. Mr. Johnson began to sweat, racking his brain for an answer before awkwardly offering the truth: His family had never taken a vacation.

That top medical schools seem to favor the rich is especially disturbing to low-income students because they know that their diverse experiences and perspectives are an asset, not a liability. A 2018 study showed that black patients have better health outcomes when treated by black doctors. Mr. Johnson said that emergency room patients have told him they feel more comfortable having a doctor who is African-American and from Stockton, someone who, like them, struggles to afford his medication.

I have a Ph.D. in not having money, Mr. Johnson said. Thats not easy to explain.

When he graduates from medical school, Mr. Velasquez plans to work in an emergency room where he can treat patients who are homeless, undocumented and the poorest of the poor. He wants to treat patients who look like his family, he said. But already he has learned that the dream comes at a cost.

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I Have a Ph.D. in Not Having Money - The New York Times

WMU medical school clinics will operate under new name, WMed Health, in 2020 – mlive.com

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Danzig

KALAMAZOO, MI -- The new year will bring a new name for the clinics at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.

Starting Jan. 1, 2020, the medical schools clinical practice will be known as WMed Health, the school announced in a news release Thursday, Dec. 19.

While services, locations, providers and staff will remain the same, the name will now be easier to rattle off, said Michele Serbenski, associate dean for clinical operations and performance excellence.

We are excited to continue to deliver the same excellent care to our patients under a name thats quicker to say and remember, Serbenski said.

WMed Health has a team of more than 330 providers and offers more than 30 different services to patients across Southwest Michigan, according to the news release.

WMed Health provides care in multiple locations, including 1000 Oakland Drive, 1717 Shaffer Street and 670 Mall Drive.

In addition to its Kalamazoo locations, WMed Health teams see patients at the Family Health Center in Kalamazoo and in Battle Creek. WMed Health tracks more than 64,000 patient visits per year, according to the release.

The medical school is a collaboration between Western Michigan University and Kalamazoos two teaching hospitals, Ascension Borgess Hospital and Bronson Methodist Hospital.

Named for Stryker Corp. founder Dr. Homer Stryker and made possible by a $100 million donation from William Johnston and Ronda Stryker, the school was established in 2012 and started its inaugural class of students in 2014.

Hofstra and Northwell rename medical school following $61 million donation – The Island Now

Posted on August 31, 2017 by ev1

Donald and Barbara Zuckers foundation donated $61 million to the medical school founded by Hofstra University and Northwell Health, the organizations announced on Wednesday, leading to renaming the school for the couple.

Most of the donation or $50 million will go towards a permanent endowment to provide students need-based scholarship support in the Zucker School of Medicine.

Some $10 million meanwhile goes towards creating and endowing the Barbara Hrbek Zucker Emerging Scientists Program at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, which is headquartered in Manhasset.

The program is intended to prepare postdoctoral fellows for successful careers and support early career faculty in developing research programs.

More so than any other donors in our history, Don and Barbara Zucker have been extraordinary supporters of causes where we have historically struggled to get financial support, Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health, said in a statement.

Their latest gifts are a testament to the Zuckers leadership as philanthropists who recognize the vital role of medical education and research in transforming the future of medicine.

Donald Zucker, 86, a New York City real estate developer from Sands Point, and his wife Barbara, donated to Northwell in the past. The couple gave to organizations like the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine in Manhasset.

Lawrence Smith, the founding dean of the Zucker School of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Northwell Health, said that the couple recognized how important it is to support students financially.

Their generosity will ensure that our medical school will continue to be represented by a highly diverse, talented student body that reflects the communities we serve throughout the New York metropolitan area, Smith said.

Hofstra University and Northwell Health first launched the medical school in 2008. It currently has 400 students enrolled and had more than 7,000 applicants competing for 100 spaces in 2016.

Almost a decade ago, we set out to create a new model of medical education that would improve health care in our region and today we mark another milestone in that journey, said Stuart Rabinowitz, the president of Hofstra University. The Zuckers support solidifies and expands our commitment to train innovative physicians whose backgrounds and experiences are as diverse as the people they treat.

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Hofstra and Northwell rename medical school following $61 million donation - The Island Now

‘Zionism won’: Adelsons hail opening of controversial medical school in West Bank – Haaretz

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Danzig

Ariel Universitys new medical school began its academic year on Sunday, with Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, its main funders, on campus to mark the occasion.

With the arrival of Las Vegascasino magnate Sheldon Adelsonand his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, who were the major donors to the medical school that bears their name, their security guards had to fend off journalists trying to ask questions about the reports over the weekend about one of the criminal investigations against Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu.

The case involves allegations of improprieties in conversations between the prime minister and Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, a rival newspaper to Israel Hayom, which is owned by the Adelsons. Over the weekend,Channel 13 disclosed tapes of the conversationsin which Netanyahu and Mozes discussed how to weaken the Adelsons newspaper.

Among the dignitaries who were allowed near the Adelsons were university officials and right-wing politiciansNaftali Bennettand Shuli Moalem-Refaeli. Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayoms editor, was also spotted.

Administrators had planned to open the school last year, but legal issues caused delays. In April, the High Court of Justice rejected a petitionby two academics against the establishment of the medical school, based on the claim that the approval casts a heavy shadow on the decision making process in higher education.The petition was submitted after it emerged that a member of the committee that looked into approving the new faculty, Prof. Jonathan Halevy, had received an offer to serve as head of the universitys board of governors six months earlier.

Although the Council for Higher Education gave its final approvalfor the opening of the medical school, the institution still faces obstacles: Its budget, for example, has yet to be approved by the councils Planning and Budgeting Committee.

'Zionism won'

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A small ceremony marking the beginning of the school year took place in a classroom where the students were asked to give up their seats for the guests of honor and university officials. Prof. Shai Ashkenazi, the dean of the medical school, delivered a very short speech and then yielded the floor to the main speaker, Miriam Adelson.

She spoke of lofty ideals such as Zionism, Jewish pride, and love of the land. She made it clear how important the day was for her and her husband. Dr. Adelson referred to a quote from the post-biblical Jewish sages about how the Land of Israel is acquired through tribulation and made reference to those who tried to prevent the opening of the school.

In Israel, being Israel, we also had to withstand our tribulations. In Israel, being Israel,there were opponents who tried to block the establishmentof a critical institution on ancient Jewish land and to deny us legitimacy, she declared. But we won, Zionism won, the truth won.

The university administration presented her with a copy of the first academic article published by a faculty member of the medical school.

The American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, recited the Sheheheyanu, prayer, which is said on momentous occasions, and remarked that in the Book of Deuteronomy, God tells the Jewish people to choose life. Why life and not wisdom or truth? he asked. Choosing life, he said, means appreciation for the holiness and value of every human being, and the medical school was advancing life itself.

The med schools 70 students of 662 applicants, as the administration took pains to mention are attending class for now in the natural sciences building, because the medical schools own building on the campus in the West Bank settlement is not finished.

The classroom was strewn with backpacks, water bottles and new white doctors smocks, a gift to the students. By the early afternoon, the students had finished a class in histology the study of cells, tissues and organs. They took the opportunity during a break to get to know one another and talk about housing options.

The class was interesting, said Reut, 23, who wants to specialize in either oncology or gynecology. I recently had to visit hospitals under unfortunate circumstances and I know that Im interested in patient care.

I would have gone to study there even if the department had opened in Gaza, joked Zahavit, a 30-year-old student, who has a bachelors degree in medical sciences from Tel Aviv University. She appeared rather satisfied so far.

Her friend Naama said Ariel was her first choice. They said it would be a fun experience. The people are nice and its beautiful here.

Naama and Zahavit are still living in Tel Aviv, but its clear to them that they will have to find an apartment in Ariel, because, as they put it, the schedule barely leaves them time to breathe.

There was a lot of tension over the summer, Zahavit said, expressing regret that the medical school couldnt open last year, as the Ariel University administration had originally planned. Many of us could have started last year, she remarked.

The influence of Yigal Cohen-Orgad, Ariel Universitys chancellor until his death two months ago, could be felt throughout the festive opening ceremony. He was mentioned frequently in both casual conversation and speeches.

Projecting a different image

Journalists were not officially invited to the medical school opening because university officials were concerned that there might be last-minute glitches, but reporters came in any event. The university is trying to fight its reputation as a settler institution and has noted that there are students from all over the country, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular.

A scent of marijuana wafted through the air, and a university source made incidental mention of a survey that a third of the universitys students acknowledged having used such soft drugs. Rather than being embarrassed over the finding, it was seen as evidence of how normal the university was.

Outside the science building, on the lawn, it did indeed appear like a typical first day at a university with inexpensive beer in disposable cups, a table with gifts to the students from the Student Union, a blood-donation stand and lively music.

The student activity stands were strikingly diverse including the right-wing group Im Tirzu next to Ofek, which is identified with the Labor Party, and the religious studies department alongside an LGBT group.

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'Zionism won': Adelsons hail opening of controversial medical school in West Bank - Haaretz

Medical school in Canada – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Danzig

This article is about institutions that grant formal Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.D., C.M.) degrees only. For information on other systems, see alternative medicine.

In Canada, a medical school is a faculty or school of a university that trains would-be medical doctors and usually offers a three- to five-year Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.D., C.M.) degree. Although presently most students enter medicine having previously earned another degree, the M.D. is technically considered an undergraduate degree in Canada. There are currently seventeen medical schools in Canada. Some faculties, such as Manitoba, McMaster, and Toronto, in addition to training would-be medical doctors offer two-year bachelor's or master's degrees to train physician assistants.[1]

As of 2013, approximately 3,900 students were enrolled in Canadian medical schools.[citation needed]

Generally, medical students begin their studies after receiving a bachelor's degree in another field, often one of the biological sciences. However, not all medical schools in Canada require a bachelor's degree for entry.[2] For example, Quebec's medical schools accept applicants after a two-year CEGEP diploma, which is the equivalent of other provinces' grade 12 plus the first year of university. Most faculties of medicine in Western Canada require at least 2 years, and most faculties in Ontario require at least 3 years of university study before application can be made to medical school. The University of Manitoba requires applicants to complete a prior degree before admission. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) publishes a detailed guide[3] to admission requirements of Canadian faculties of medicine on a yearly basis.

Admission offers are made by individual medical schools, generally on the basis of a personal statement, autobiographical sketch, undergraduate record (GPA), scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT),[4] and interviews. Medical schools in Quebec (Francophones and Anglophone alike), the University of Ottawa (a bilingual school), and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (a school which promotes francophone culture), do not require the MCAT, as the MCAT has no French equivalent. Some schools, such as the University of Toronto and Queen's University, use the MCAT score as a cut-off, where sub-standard scores compromise eligibility.[5][6] Other schools, such as the University of Western Ontario, give increasing preference to higher performance.[7]McMaster University strictly utilizes the Verbal Reasoning section of the MCAT to determine interview eligibility and admission rank.[8]

The annual success rate for Canadian citizens applying for admission to Canadian medical schools is normally below 10%.[9] Just over 2,500 positions were available in first-year classes in 2006-2007 across all seventeen Canadian faculties of medicine. The average cost of tuition in 2006-2007 was $12,728 for medical schools outside of Quebec; in Quebec (for Quebecers only), average tuition was $2,943. The level of debt among Canadian medical students upon graduation has received attention in the medical media.[10][11]

Medical school in Canada is generally a 4-year program at most universities. Notable exceptions include McMaster University and the University of Calgary, where programs run for 3 years, without interruption for the summer. McGill University and Universit de Montral in the province of Quebec both offer a five-year program that includes a medical preparatory year to entering CEGEP graduates. While Universit Laval in Quebec City offers a four- to five-year program to all entering students (both CEGEP graduates and university-level students), Universit de Sherbrooke offers a formal four-year M.D. program to all admitted students.

The first half of the medical curriculum is dedicated mostly to teaching the fundamentals of, or basic subjects relevant to, medicine, such as anatomy, histology, physiology, pharmacology, genetics, microbiology, ethics, and epidemiology. This instruction can be organized by discipline or by organ system. Teaching methods can include traditional lectures, problem-based learning, laboratory sessions, simulated patient sessions, and limited clinical experiences. The remainder of medical school is spent in clerkship. Clinical clerks participate in the day-to-day management of patients. They are supervised and taught during this clinical experience by residents and fully licensed staff physicians. Typical rotations include internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. Elective rotations are often available so students can explore specialties of interest for residency training.

Some medical schools offer joint degree programs in which a limited number of interested medical students may simultaneously enroll in M.Sc. or Ph.D. programs in related fields. Often this research training is undertaken during elective time and between the basic science and clinical clerkship halves of the curriculum. For example, while Universit de Sherbrooke offers a M.D./M.Sc. program, McGill University offers a M.D./Ph.D. for medical students holding an undergraduate degree in a relevant field.

Students enter into the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) in the fall of their final year. Students rank their preferences of hospitals and specialties. In turn, the programs to which they applied rank each student. Both sets of rank lists are confidential. Each group's preferences are entered into a computerized matching system to determine placement for residency positions. 'Match Day' usually occurs in March,[12] a few months before graduation. The length of post-graduate training varies with choice of specialty. Family medicine is a 2-year program accredited by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), and third year programs of residency training are available in various areas of practice, including Emergency Medicine, Maternal/Child, Care of the Elderly, Palliative Care or Sports Medicine. All other medical specialty residencies are accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada; most are 5 years long. Internal medicine and pediatrics are 4-year programs in which the final year can be used to complete a fellowship in general internal medicine or general pediatrics, or used towards a longer fellowship (e.g., cardiology). A few surgical residencies, including cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, and some general surgery programs, last 6 years. Sub-specialty fellowships are available after most residencies.

There are subtle differences between how residency training is organized in Canada as opposed to the United States. For example, M.D. graduates proceed directly into their residencies without the intermediate step of internship. However, this difference is somewhat superficial: for many residencies, the first postgraduate year (PGY1) in Canada is very similar to a rotating internship, with 1-2 month-long rotations in diverse fields. On the other hand, in Canada the graduate is often committed to a sub-specialty earlier than a similar American graduate.

Some sub-specialties are organized differently. For example, in the United States, cardiac and thoracic surgery are rolled into one fellowship (cardiothoracic surgery) following residency in general surgery. In Canada, cardiac surgery is a direct-entry residency (equivalent training can be obtained by pursuing a cardiac fellowship following residency in general surgery, but this route is far less popular). A fellowship in thoracic surgery can be pursued following residency in either cardiac or general surgery.

Unlike the United States and United Kingdom, in Canada there are no national guidelines for residents' call schedules or work hours. However, each province in which residency training takes place negotiates such details as part of a collective agreement between the authority and the provincial professional association of residents. An example of this is the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario.

Both Canadian specialty colleges participate in mandatory continuing medical education (CME) schemes. Examples of CME activities include attendance at conferences, participating in practice-based small group learning, and taking courses such as advanced cardiac life support.

The CFPC program for family physicians is called MAINPRO, short for 'Maintenance of Proficiency.'[13] A certain number of credits must be obtained over 5 year cycles. There are different classes of credits depending on whether the CME activity is considered accredited (e.g., attending accredited workshops or conferences) or non-accredited (e.g., teaching medical students, preparing research papers for publication, reading scholarly journals).

The Office of Professional Affairs of the RCPSC is responsible for a mandatory maintenance of certification (MOC) program as part of its strategy of continuous professional development linked to each Fellows professional practice.[14] The framework of CPD options includes a broad spectrum of learning activities linked to a credit system. All Fellows submit their completed learning activities through MAINPORT, the RCPSC learning portfolio. Fellows of the RCPSC must submit a minimum number of credits per year (40 credits) and over a 5-year cycle (400 credits) to maintain their membership with the Royal College and their right to use the designation FRCPC or FRCSC. That instead gives way to more time.

During the final year of medical school, students complete part 1 of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE),[15] which is administered by the Medical Council of Canada and organized as a part-multiple choice, part-short answer computer-adaptive test. Upon completion of the final year of medical school, students are awarded the degree of M.D. Students then begin training in the residency program designated to them by CaRMS. Part 2 of the MCCQE, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, is taken following completion of 12 months of residency training. After both parts of the MCCQE are successfully completed, the resident becomes a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada. However, in order to practice independently, the resident must complete the residency program and take a board examination pertinent to his or her intended scope of practice. In the final year of residency training, residents take an exam administered by either the RCPSC or the CFPC, depending on whether they are training for specialty or family practice. They are then eligible to apply for full licensure with their provincial or territorial medical regulatory authority (i.e., provincial college).

Together with the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), the AFMC carries out accreditation surveys and rules on the accreditation status of all of the undergraduate medical programs in Canada, as well as all university-based continuing medical education. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, jointly administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association, also accredits Canadian medical schools. The M.D. and M.D.C.M medical degrees are the only medical degrees offered in Canada listed in the WHO/IMED list of medical schools.

In Canada, physician training is available in both official languages: English and French. Postgraduate trainees are referred to as 'residents,'.

More here:
Medical school in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Health Information and Medical Information – Harvard Health

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Danzig

Anthony Komaroff is the Steven P. Simcox/Patrick A. Clifford/James H. Higby Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Senior Physician at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, and EditorinChief of the Harvard Health Letter. He was Director of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Womens Hospital for 15 years and is the Founding Editor ofNEJM Journal Watch General Medicine, a summary medical information newsletter for physicians published by the Massachusetts Medical Society/New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Komaroff was the Editor in Chief of Harvard Health Publications from 1999 to February 2015.

Dr. Komaroff practiced general internal medicine for 45 years.He teaches courses on clinical medicine and clinical research methods at Harvard Medical School. He has served as an advisory board member for the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of over 270 journal articles and book chapters and of two books. In recognition of his accomplishments, Dr. Komaroff has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Thomas Lee is an internist and cardiologist. After a long clinical career at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Lee was Network President for Partners Healthcare System, the integrated delivery system founded by Brigham and Womens Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is now the Chief Medical Officer for Press Ganey Associates in Boston. Dr. Lee is currently on leave from his roles as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.

He is a graduate of Harvard College, Cornell University Medical College, and Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Lee is the founding editor of the Harvard Heart Letter, and is on the Editorial Board of The New England Journal of Medicine. With James J. Mongan, MD, he is the author of Chaos and Organization in Health Care (MIT Press, 2009) and Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine (Harvard University Press, 2013).

He is a member of the Boards of Directors of Geisinger Health System, the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College, the Special Medical Advisory Committee (SMAC) of the Veterans Administration, and the Panel of Health Advisors of the Congressional Budget Office.

Dr. Walter Willett is Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Willett, an American, was born in Hart, Michigan and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, studied food science at Michigan State University, and graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School before obtaining a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Willett has focused much of his work over the last 25 years on the development of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He has applied these methods starting in 1980 in the Nurses' Health Studies I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Together, these cohorts that include nearly 300,000 men and women with repeated dietary assessments are providing the most detailed information on the long-term health consequences of food choices.

Dr. Willett has published over 1,500 articles, primarily on lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and cancer, and has written the textbook, Nutritional Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press. He also has four books for the general public, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, which has appeared on most major bestseller lists, Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less, co-authored with Mollie Katzen, The Fertility Diet, co-authored with Jorge Chavarro and Pat Skerrett, and most recently Thinfluence, co-authored with Malissa Wood, M.D. Dr. Willett is the most cited nutritionist internationally, and is among the five most cited persons in all fields of clinical science. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.

Dr. William C. DeWolf is Urologist-in-Chief and Director of the Urologic Research Laboratories at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

His major areas of interest include urologic malignancies and prostatic diseases. His major research interest is molecular genetics and the biochemistry of malignancy.

Dr. DeWolf earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School and has completed advanced training in urologic surgery, general surgery, and transplantation. He has received several major awards, including a National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award, and has been an American Urological Association Scholar. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. DeWolf has served as president of the National Urologic Forum, serves on the editorial board of the journal Urology, and is a referee for several major urologic and scientific journals. He has authored or co-authored over 200 articles and chapters.

Dr. Eric Rimm is a Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Director of the Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health and also Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research group focuses on the study of diet and lifestyle characteristics in relation to cardiovascular disease. He also studies the impact of school nutrition policies on the diets of school children, and the impact of food stamps on dietary habits.

Dr. Rimm was a member of the scientific advisory committee for the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. He is an associate editor for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the American Journal of Epidemiology. He was awarded the 2012 American Society for Nutrition's General Mills Institute of Health and Nutrition Innovation Award.

Dr. Rimm earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his doctor of science degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, and completed a nutrition and epidemiology fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. During his 20-plus years on the faculty at Harvard, he has published more than 450 peer reviewed publications.

Excerpt from:
Health Information and Medical Information - Harvard Health

Essential California: How the USC med school scandal could affect … – Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Fredricko

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, Aug. 21, and heres whats happening across California:

Top Medical Schools in 2019 | Top Universities

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Danzig

Released today, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019 includes a ranking of the 500 top medical schools around the globe.

Each institution was ranked according to a methodology which assesses four academic indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and H-index (which measures the productivity and impact of published papers of a scientist or scholar).

Read on for an overview of this years top universities for medicine, starting with a look at the top 10.

Of the 500 institutions featured in the medical school ranking, many are found in Europe, including a total of 39 in the UK.

Three UK universities are featured in this years top 10, with Oxford and Cambridge both achieving their best scores in the academic and employer reputation indicators.

UCL (University College London) is one of the worlds leading research institutions, and has climbed up one place this year to rank joint ninth in the medical school ranking, proudly displaying excellent scores across all four indicators.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany has the second most entrants in the medical ranking, with 31 universities ranked in total, three of which are placed in the top 50. Charit Universittsmedizin Berlin is Germanys highest ranked, at 33rd, followed by Ruprecht-Karls-Universitt Heidelberg (=40), and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen (42nd).

Heading down to southern Europe, Italy follows with 25 representatives in total, three of which claim a place in the top 100: Sapienza Universit di Roma, Universit degli Studi di Milano, and Universit di Bologna (UNIBO). France has 20 universities ranked, with Sorbonne University and Universit Paris Descartes both placing in the top 100, while Spain has 14 its highest ranked, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), also making the top 100.

With seven representatives each are Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. Belgiums Katholieke Universiteit Leuven claims 47th place globally, while Universit catholique de Louvain retains its place in the 51-100 range. Nearby in the Netherlands, four institutions sit in the 51-100 range Leiden University, Maastricht University, the University of Groningen, and Utretcht University. However, its highest ranked medical schools are Erasmus University Rotterdam, which climbed up five places this year to rank =34th, and the University of Amsterdam (=35th).

Of all the locations mentioned above, Sweden is the only one apart from the UK with a university in the top 10. The Karolinska Institute (KI) remains in sixth place and offers medical and health science courses in English, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Sweden is also home to two other medical schools featured in the top 100: Lund University and Uppsala University.

Other European study destinations with the worlds top medical schools include Switzerland and Ireland with six entrants each; three of Switzerlands entrants are in the top 100, and include the University of Basel, University of Geneva, and University of Zurich. In Ireland, only one institution the Trinity College Dublin (TCD) sits in the top 100.

Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Greece all have five entrants in the ranking, with Denmarks highest ranked institution, the University of Copenhagen, featuring at joint 38th, while Finlands University of Helsinki ranks as one of the worlds top 100 for the subject.

With less than five entrants in this years medical ranking, Norway, Hungary and Russia take the lead with four institutions each, followed by Austria and Czech Republic with three entrants Austrias highest ranked, Medizinische Universitt Wien, retaining its place in the global top 100. Locations with only one university in the medical ranking include Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Lithuania.

The 2019 medical school ranking sees a total of 90 US institutions ranked, of which 18 are in the global top 50, with a further 11 in the global top 100.

There are six medical schools from the US in the top 10. As the study destinations most prestigious institution overall, Harvard University leads the ranking at number one, scoring perfect scores for the indicators measuring academic reputation, employer reputation, and h-index. Stanford University follows at number four globally, achieving outstanding scores across all four indicators.

The worlds fifth-best medical school, Johns Hopkins University, is notable for receiving more research grants from the National Institutes of Health than any other medical school, while the worlds seventh-best University of California, Los Angeles offers its students intimate engagement with the schools faculty as 70 percent of all undergraduate classes are made up of 30 or fewer members.

Ranked eighth, Yale University is home to Yale Medical School, a globally renowned center for biomedical research and education. Elsewhere, MIT sits in joint ninth place with the UKs UCL and displays exceptional scores across all four categories, with a perfect score for citations per paper.

Other US medical schools ranked in the top 20 include the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which retains its place at 11th, followed by Columbia University at 14th, the University of Pennsylvania (15th), Duke University which climbed up an impressive four places from last year to place 16th, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) (=20th).

Heading further north into Canada, 17 of its top medical schools are ranked this year, including four in the top 50 University of Toronto (13th), McGill University (19th), University of British Columbia (30th), McMaster University (=43rd).

A total of 98 top medical schools are found in Asia, 28 of which are based in Japan, while China and South Korea are home to 18. Two of Japans top universities for medicine are ranked in the global top 50 and a further two sit in the global top 100 including the regions second-highest ranked, the University of Tokyo (26th) and Kyoto University, which climbed from the 51-100 range to rank 45th, while Chinas Peking University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University all claim places within the top 100, the latter pair both having made their way up from the 101-150 range from last years ranking.

Meanwhile, South Korea has 18 institutions in the ranking, led by Seoul National University (SNU) (up 11 places to rank 31st for medicine) while Sungkyunkwan University and Yonsei University now sit in the 51-100 range after ranking 101-150 last year.

Next up with 10 representatives in this years medical school ranking is Taiwan, with its highest ranked medical school, the National Taiwan University (NTU), featuring in 50th place. Thailand follows with six entrants in total, its highest ranked, Mahidol University, sitting within the 101-150 range. With five top universities for medicine ranked this year is Malaysia, where its number-one medical school is Universiti Malaya (UM), which also ranks in the 101-150 range internationally.

Home to less than five medical schools, India leads with a total of four representatives, its highest ranked also a new entrant the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, earning its place in the global 151-200 range. Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines follow with two representatives each, with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) being the third-highest ranked in Asia, having risen five spots in the ranking this year to place 29th. Hong Kongs second highest-rank institution in the medical school ranking is the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which claims a spot in the worlds top 50 (=45th).

Pakistan and Singapore have one entrant each Singapores only representative and Asias highest ranked medical school, the National University of Singapore (NUS), having shot up an impressive eight places this year to rank 23rd.

Traveling down south-west to Latin America, 32 top medical schools are ranked in the region this year, as Brazil dominates the ranking with 15 representatives in total. Mexico is home to four top medical schools, Chile to three, and Argentina to two, while Peru and Uruguay have one entrant each.

Brazils highest ranked medical school, Universidade de So Paulo (USP), is also the top medical school in Latin America, while of Colombias six representatives, three have risen in the ranking to place 301-350. In Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico ranks the highest (151-200), and in Chile, the highest ranked medical school, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, has maintained its position in the 101-150 range. Universidad de Bueno Aires is Argentinas top medical school, retaining its spot in the 151-200 range.

The Australasian region harbors a total of 22 medical schools in the ranking this year, of which 20 are based in Australia alone, while the remaining two are in New Zealand.

Of Australias 20 representatives in this years medical school ranking, four are in the global top 50: the University of Melbourne remains in the lead at 17th, followed by the University of Sydney just one spot behind, in 18th place, Monash University (32nd), and the University of Queensland (49th). A further three institutions remain in the global top 100 Australian National University (ANU), the University of Adelaide, and the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Over to New Zealand, both of its two representatives, the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, sit in the 101-150 range.

Egypt has the most entrants (six) in the region of this years medical school ranking, while South Africa and Israel both claim five representatives each. Next is Turkey with four ranked institutions, followed by Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan, with two each. Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Kuwait and Ghana have the least number of entrants, with only one representative each.

In Egypt, Cairo University climbed significantly in the ranking from the 251-300 range to 201-250. However, its South Africa which claims the number one spot in Africa & the Middle East, with the University of Cape Town retaining its position in the 101-150 range. Of Israels five entrants, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is the highest ranked at 151-200, while Turkeys highest ranked are Haceteppe University and Istanbul University, both in the 301-350 range.

Of Saudi Arabias two entrants, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) ranks the highest, having notably achieved a spot in the 151-200 range after coming 251-300 last year. Finally, with Lebanon and Jordan also claiming two institutions each in the medical school ranking, the American University of Beirut (AUB) ranks the highest of the four, having climbed up from the 251-300 range to rank 201-250 this year.

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Top Medical Schools in 2019 | Top Universities

Sanford School of Medicine | USD

Posted on September 26, 2016 by ev1

Nagi Nunpa (Lakota for Two Spirit)

Presented by: Jessica Hanson, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Sanford Research Assistant Professor, Department of OB/Gyn, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine; and Caitlin Borges, M.S.W., Clinic Specialist, Center for Disabilities, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. Location: Health Science Center Room 106

Presenters: Lauren Destino, MD Clinical Assistant Professor, Associate Medical Director of the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Division and Acute Care Floors Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and Stanford University School of Medicine Theodore C. Sectish, MD Program Director and Vice Chair, Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital Location: Sanford USD Medical Center Schroeder Auditorium, Avera Education Center Classroom 2, The VA Hospital Room 351 and registered video conferencing sites.

Presented by: Karen A. Munger, Ph.D., Coordinator, R&D Service, Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, Associate Professor, Internal Medicine. Location: Health Science Center Room 106

Presenter: Jennifer Tegethoff, MD, FAAP Clinical Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine Location: Sanford USD Medical Center Schroeder Auditorium, Avera Education Center Classroom 2, The VA Hospital Room 351 and registered video conferencing sites.

Maria Stys, MD Academic Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine Sanford Cardiovascular Institute

Presenters: Brian Burrell, Ph.D., Basic Biomedical Sciences and Ranjit Koodali, Chemistry and Dean of Graduate School join us to learn about the new Neuroscience and Nanotechnology Graduate Training Program (USD-N3). The workshop will provide an explanation of the grant and how it will be administered, along with the opportunity to identify potential collaborative projects between neuroscience and chemisty that may be further developed through the USD-N3 program. Join us to learn more about this exciting new program. Refreshments will be served. CBBRe workshops are held on the first Wednesday of each month (second Wednesday in this case) and aim to bring CBBRe students, staff and faculty together for discussion and collaboration. Other members of your department are welcome to attend. Meetings will be held in the Lee Med Building, Room 105.

Presenter: Joseph Segeleon, MD Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Sanford Children's Hospital, Sioux Falls, South Dakota Location: Sanford USD Medical Center, Schroeder Auditorium Avera Education Center Classroom 2 The VA Hospital Room 351, and registered video conferencing sites

Larry Burris, DO Assistant Clinical Professor, Neurology, Sanford School of Medicine Transplant Nephrologist and NeuroIntensivist

LCME Accreditation: One Year and Counting Retreat Objectives: a. Review drafts of LCME subcommittee self-study reports, including strengths, challenges and recommendations b. Review Independent Student Analysis c. Prioritize recommendations that need to be addressed Agenda and registration available online.

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Sanford School of Medicine | USD

Medical school in the United States – Wikipedia, the free …

Posted on September 26, 2016 by ev1

A medical school in the United States is a four-year graduate institution with the purpose of educating physicians in the field of medicine. Such schools provide a major part of the medical education in the United States. Graduates receive either a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree.

Admissions to medical school in the United States is generally considered competitive. Admissions criteria include grade point averages, Medical College Admission Test scores, letters of recommendation, and interviews. Most students have at least a bachelor's degree, usually in a biologic science, and some students have advanced degrees, such as a master's degree. Most students that apply to medical school do not matriculate at a medical school. Medical School in the United States does not require a degree in biological sciences. People with degrees in different fields can be admitted to medical school as long as the criteria for admission is followed.

Medical school typically consists of four years of training, although a few programs (at least two) offer three-year tracks. The first two years consist of basic science courses, such as anatomy, biochemistry, histology, microbiology, pharmacology, physiology, cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, psychiatry, neurology, etc. The third and fourth years consist of clinical rotations, sometimes called clerkships, where students attend hospitals and clinics. These rotations are usually at teaching hospitals but are sometimes at community hospitals or with private physicians. The typical "core" (i.e. mandatory) rotations taken in third year are Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Surgery. Fourth year for the most part will consist of electives and some mandatory rotations like Emergency Medicine and Neurology - but again, some schools are different and some have been able to allow students to take an elective or two during third year, while many schools have also been trying to do the same. Some schools have been trying to incorporate Neurology and/or Emergency Medicine into third year, since by the time students are applying for residency programs, many haven't been exposed to either. However, again, it varies by school, and it varies by the mission of each medical school.

The Flexner Report, published in 1910, had a significant impact on reforming medical education in the United States. The report led to the implementation of more structured standards and regulations in medical education. Currently, all medical schools in the United States must be accredited by a certain body, depending on whether it is a D.O. granting medical school or an M.D. granting medical school. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is an accrediting body for educational programs at schools of medicine in the United States and Canada. The LCME accredits only the schools that grant a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree; osteopathic medical schools that grant the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree are accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association.

In 1910, the Flexner Report reported on the state of medical education in the United States and Canada. Written by Abraham Flexner and published in 1910 under the aegis of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the report set standards and reformed American medical education.

In general, admission into a US medical school is considered highly competitive and typically requires completion of a four-year Bachelor's degree or at least 90 credit hours from an accredited college or university. Many applicants obtain further education before medical school in the form of Master's degrees or other non science-related degrees. Admissions criteria may include overall performance in the undergraduate years and performance in a group of courses specifically required by U.S. medical schools (pre-health sciences), the score on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), application essays, letters of recommendation (most schools require either one letter from the undergraduate institution's premedical advising committee or a combination of letters from at least one science faculty and one non-science faculty), and interviews.

Beyond objective admissions criteria, many programs look for candidates who have had unique experiences in community service, volunteer work, international studies, research, or other advanced degrees. The application essay is the primary opportunity for the candidate to describe his/her reasons for entering a medical career. The essay requirements are usually open-ended to allow creativity and flexibility for the candidate to draw upon his/her personal experiences/challenges to make him/her stand out amongst other applicants. If granted, an interview serves as an additional way to express these subjective strengths that a candidate may possess.

Since 2005, the Association of Medical Colleges has recommended that all medical schools conduct background checks on applicants in order to prevent individuals with convictions for serious crimes from being matriculated.[2]

Most commonly, the bachelor's degree is in one of the biological sciences, but not always; in 2005, nearly 40% of medical school matriculates had received bachelor's degrees in fields other than biology or specialized health sciences.[3] All medical school applicants must, however, complete year-length undergraduate courses with labs in biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics; some medical schools have additional requirements such as biochemistry, calculus, genetics, psychology and English. Many of these courses have prerequisites, so there are other "hidden" course requirements (basic science courses) that are often taken first.

A student with a bachelor's degree who has not taken the pre-medical coursework may complete a postbaccalaureate (postbacc) program. Such programs allow rapid fulfillment of prerequisite course work as well as grade point average improvement. Some postbacc programs are specifically linked to individual medical schools to allow matriculation without a gap year, while most require 12 years to complete.

Several universities[4] across the U.S. admit college students to their medical schools during college; students attend a single six-year to eight-year integrated program consisting of two to four years of an undergraduate curriculum and four years of medical school curriculum, culminating in both a bachelor's and M.D. degree or a bachelor's and D.O. degree. Some of these programs admit high school students to college and medical school.

While not necessary for admission, several private organizations have capitalized on this complex and involved process by offering services ranging from single-component preparation (MCAT, essay, etc.) to entire application review/consultation.

In 2014, the average MCAT and GPA for students entering U.S.-based M.D. programs were 31.4 and 3.69,[5] respectively, and 27.21 and 3.53 for D.O. matriculants, although the gap has been getting smaller every year.[6]

In 2012, 45,266 people applied to medical schools in the United States through the American Medical College Application Service. Of these 45,266 students, 19,517 of them matriculated into a medical school for a success rate of 43 percent.[7] However, this figure does not account for the attrition rate of pre-med students in various stages of the pre-application process (those who ultimately do not decide to apply due to weeding out by low GPA, low MCAT, lack of clinical and research experience, and numerous other factors).[8]

Once admitted to medical school, it generally takes four years to complete a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree program. However, at least two schools, Texas Tech University and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine[9] are now offering a three-year accelerated program for those students going into primary care.[10] The course of study is divided into two roughly equal components: pre-clinical and clinical.

Pre-clinical study comprises the first one to two years and consists of classroom and laboratory instruction in core subjects such as anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, histology, embryology, microbiology, pathology, pathophysiology, and neurosciences. Once students successfully complete pre-clinical training, they generally take Step 1 of the medical licensing boards, the USMLE or the COMLEX.

The clinical component usually occupies the final two to three years of medical school and takes place almost exclusively on the wards of a teaching hospital or, occasionally, with community-based physicians. The students observe and take part in the care of patients under the supervision of resident and attending physicians. Rotations (also known as clerkships) are required in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, neurology, and psychiatry. Beyond these, a variable number of specialty electives are required. Additionally, students are generally required to take a sub-internship rotation where they will perform duties at the intern level. During the fourth year, most medical students take Step 2 of the medical licensing boards (USMLE Clinical Knowledge & Clinical Skills [for M.D.] or COMLEX Cognitive Evaluation & Performance Evaluation [for D.O.]).

Many medical schools also offer joint degree programs in which some medical students may simultaneously enroll in master's or doctoral-level programs in related fields such as a Masters in Business Administration, Masters in Healthcare Administration, Masters in Public Health, JD, Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy, and Masters in Health Communication. Some schools, such as the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Medical College of South Carolina, both offer an integrated basic radiology curriculum during their respective MD programs led by investigators of the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study.

Upon completion of medical school, the student gains the title of doctor and the degree of M.D. or D.O. but cannot practice independently until completing at least an internship and also Step 3 of the USMLE (for M.D.) or COMLEX (for D.O.). Doctors of Medicine and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine have an equal scope of practice in the United States, with some osteopathic physicians supplementing their practice with principles of osteopathic medicine.

Medical schools use a variety of different grading methods. Even within one school, the grading of the basic sciences and clinical clerkships may vary. Most medical schools use the pass/fail schema, rather than letter grades; however the range of grading intervals varies. The following are examples of grades used with different intervals:[11]

In addition, a Medical School Performance Evaluation, also called Dean's letter, more specifically describes the performance of a student during medical school.[12]

All medical schools within the United States must be accredited by one of two organizations. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), jointly administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association, accredits M.D. schools,[13] while the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association accredits osteopathic (D.O.) schools. There are presently 141 M.D. programs[14] and 30 D.O. programs[15] in the United States.

Accreditation is required for a school's students to receive federal loans. Additionally, schools must be accredited to receive federal funding for medical education.[16] The M.D. and D.O. are the only medical degrees offered in the United States which are listed in the WHO/IMED list of medical schools.

Unlike many other countries, U.S. medical students finance their education with personal debt. In 1992, the average debt of a medical doctor after residency, for those graduating with debt, was $25,000. For the Class of 2009, the average debt of a medical student is $157,990, with 25.1% of students having debt in excess of $200,000 (prior to residency). For the past decade, tuition prices have increased 5-6% each year- it is not clear what has caused these increases.[17]

Medical schools do not have accounting transparency, so it is difficult to pin-point the root cause of tuition increases.[18] Medical education is still based on the 2 + 2 model posited by the 100-year-old Flexner report.

A current economic theory suggests that increasing borrowing limits have been the cause of the increased tuition. As medical students are allowed to borrow more, medical schools raise tuition prices to maximally increase revenue. Studies show that schools raise prices 97 cents for each one dollar increase in borrowing capacity.[19]

There is no consensus on whether the level of debt carried by medical students has a strong effect on their choice of medical specialty. Dr. Herbert Pardes and others have suggested that medical school debt has been a direct cause of the US primary care shortage.[20] Some research suggests that for a sub-set of debt sensitive medical students, this is certainly the case. For most students, debt is but one consideration in choosing a residency. Whatever the cause may be, the 2008 Family Medicine Residency match filled only 44% of available slots with US graduates, down from the 1984 level of 98%.[21]

In February 2010, The Wall Street Journal published a story of Dr Michelle Bisutti's $555,000 medical school debt. The huge amount of debt is a direct result of Bisutti deferring her student debt payment during her residency.[22]

Income-based repayment (IBR) and Pay as You Earn (PAYE) give options to lower monthly repayment based on adjusted gross income (AGI) for all Federal student loans. Physicians in public service are also eligible for student loan forgiveness after ten years of loan payment while in a public service job.[23]

Repayment options that lower monthly payments and student loan forgiveness (PSLF) in public service are advised to medical residents slated to earn much higher salaries after residency.[24]

Medical schools reside inside complex multi-purpose institutions known as academic health centers. Academic health centers aim to educate medical students and residents, provide top quality patient care, and perform cutting-edge research. Since medical students are educated inside academic health centers, it is impossible to separate the finances from other operations inside the center. Funding for medical studentsand higher graduate medical educationcomes from several sources above and beyond personal debt financing.[25]

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Medical school in the United States - Wikipedia, the free ...

More than 150 doctors left Hawaii this year – Thegardenisland.com

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Danzig

The exodus of doctors from practice in Hawaii this year was much worse than was indicated in preliminary figures released just a few months ago. In 2019, 152 doctors moved away from Hawaii, nearly four times the impact that was visible earlier, a press release said.

The new figures are contained in the final Hawaii Physician Workforce Assessment Project Report for 2019, which was filed on December 20, 2019 with the Hawaii State Legislature.

Other losses came through retirement or reductions in hours of practice. Ninety-one physicians retired in 2019; 123 decreased their hours, and four passed away. Currently, 245 physician jobs are open, waiting to be filled, statewide. The workforce need is much greater as only a minority of physicians in the state are employed.

Physicians leaving practice in Hawaii is only one side of the story. In terms of physicians entering practice in the state versus leaving practice, Hawaii had a net gain of 47 doctors overall in 2019. Unfortunately, the need for physicians continued to grow, nullifying this net gain in doctors.

Thus the statewide physician shortage remains somewhere between 519 and 820 doctors based on the average U.S. use of physician services by a population like ours. The higher number (820) is projected when researchers accounted for island specific needs.

The Oahu shortage decreased from 384 (in 2018) to 377 (in 2019); the Hawaii Island shortage increased from 213 to 230; On Maui, the shortage increased from 141 to 153; and on Kauai, the shortage increased slightly from 59 to 60. Primary care represents the largest shortage statewide (300 FTEs needed), and on all islands.

Kelley Withy, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the workforce assessment, said the reports have shown some hopeful signs.

We used to have a severe shortage of cardiologists appearing on the top of the shortage list on Oahu, but that has eased somewhat because heart specialists are now being trained locally through a fellowship established by the John A. Burns School of Medicine and The Queens Medical Center, he said. Similarly, the Hawaii Island Family Medicine Residency program has eased the shortage of Family Medicine doctors there.

Research by both UH and the Association of American Medical Colleges has shown that medical students who attend school in Hawaii and complete their advanced training here are more than 80% likely to remain in-state to practice their profession.

The Physican Workforce Assessment survey is conducted by the University of Hawaii medical school with proceeds from a small fee placed on doctors licenses, which must be renewed every two years. More than 10,000 physicians hold Hawaii physician licenses, but only 3,484 are practicing in civilian settings.

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5 lessons one doctor learned from the times he almost died – WHYY

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Danzig

David Fajgenbaum was 25 years old the first time he almost died.

He was in his third year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. His goal was to become an oncologist an ambition born several years before, after watching his mother die from brain cancer.

In the summer of 2010, he was closer than ever before.

I was done with my book work and now finally treating patients in the hospital, he said. I was loving it, and I felt like I was finally achieving the things that I had been setting out to achieve and becoming a physician.

And then, out of nowhere, came the symptoms abdominal pain, lumps in his neck, fluid in his legs. But worse than anything was the insatiable fatigue, which eventually forced him to take micro-naps between each patient.

Finally, after struggling his way through an exam, Fajgenbaum went to the emergency department.

And thats when they did blood work and they informed me that my liver, my kidneys and my bone marrow were all shutting down, he said. I was hospitalized right away.

That was the beginning of a 3 -year saga, during which Fajgenbaum a former football player whom his friends had nicknamed The Beast would descend into an illness so great, so resistant to treatment, that it brought him to the brink of death no fewer than five times.

Eventually, Fajgenbaum was diagnosed with idiopathic Multicentric Castleman disease a rare illness that, at that time, had an expected survival rate of just a couple years.

I thought a lot about my mom, he said. I thought a lot about what it was like when she got such a bad diagnosis with her brain cancer. And it was terrifying.

Because its so rare, Castleman disease isnt well understood. That was especially the case 10 years ago. Fajgenbaum describes it as a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disease.

At its most basic sense, its just the immune system becoming hyper-activated and then attacking your vital organs for an unknown cause, he said.

Fajgenbaum sought out the worlds leading expert on Castlemans, and over the next couple of years, exhausted all known treatments for the disease.

He remembers the moment his doctor told him that the latest experimental drug wasnt working and that there were no more options left.

Within just a couple of minutes, I went from being this really optimistic Penn med student who was fighting cancer and who just hoped and prayed that this drug would work, to realizing that this drug was not going to work for me and that I was out of options, he said. And that I would need to start fighting back and start to try to identify drugs and treatments that could maybe help me and other patients.

So thats exactly was Fajgenbaum did. In between his relapses, he launched the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, a nonprofit aimed at coordinating and pushing ahead research on the illness.

He also started doing his own research using himself as a subject. But before the projects could bear fruit, Fajgenbaum had another relapse, which attacked with terrifying speed.

Everything failing, fluid everywhere, organs shutting down, difficult to breathe just within days in the ICU, he said.

It was his closest brush with death, and offered a frightening wakeup call.

I was in denial I was like, it cant be a relapse, he said. I havent made enough progress yet. This cant be it I need more time.

He needed more time to find a cure but he also needed more time to live. By then, Fajgenbaum had become engaged, and was desperate to survive long enough to attend his own wedding.

This is when I realized that I needed to study my Castleman disease, he said. If I was going to make any progress for Castleman disease, for other patients, for all these patients around the world, I needed to survive.

So Fajgenbaum doubled down on his own personal research. He started poring through his own medical records, along with data from the experiments hed done on his own samples.

I knew I couldnt develop a new drug, he said. That would take 10 years and $1 billion. But maybe I could find something in my data that would suggest that something was wrong, where there was a drug that already exists that could target that thing.

After several weeks of intense work, Fajgenbaum found what he was looking for signs that his immune system had started gearing up for a fight as much as five months before his latest relapse.

Fajgenbaum speculated that if he could block the specific communication line that triggered that activation, called the mTOR pathway, maybe he could stop his immune system from overreacting and causing a relapse.

As it turns out, there was already a drug out there that does exactly that, called sirolimus.

This drug was dropped 30 years ago for kidney transplantation, Fajgenbaum said. It had never been used before for Castleman disease but I was out of options, and so I decided to try it on myself as the first patient with Castlemans.

As of January 2020, Fajgenbaum has been in remission for about six years though, even now, he counts his progress in months.

Today, its now been almost 71 months I think its like 71.92 months, he said. I cant round up; I dont know if Im going to make it to 72 months. But I also wont round down because we worked really, really hard for each portion of this remission.

He runs his own lab at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to Castleman research, and helps lead the Penn Orphan Disease Center, in addition to continuing with the organization he founded, the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network.

He said he spends most waking hours either working on a cure for Castleman or with his wife, Caitlin, and their 15-month-old daughter, Amelia.

The fact that I have this disease is what has me working as hard as I do during the day, he said. Its what makes me spend so much time, as much as I can, with Caitlin and Amelia.

Hes forever conscious of the fact that he could relapse at any moment and that the drug thats kept him in remission isnt a cure for everyone. So far, research indicates that, like other Castleman treatments, it works for some patients, but not all.

That sense of urgency has transformed the way Fajgenbaum lives.

Its not just like, We have a certain amount of time, we need to make the most of it, he said. Its that if we can make the most of it, the way that I think we can in the lab and through our research, then we can actually make more time for me and for a lot of other people. And so its kind of like a race against the clock.

Its a stressful way to live but Fajgenbaums had good training.

I nearly died five times over the course of a 3 -year period after my diagnosis, he said. And with each of those near-death experiences, I learned a lot about life and about living.

Fajgenbaum recorded everything he experienced and learned in his recent memoir, Chasing My Cure. Here, he distills five of the lessons he gleaned one for each time he almost died.

Fajgenbaums first big lesson arrived after weeks of illness, when he was so close to death that the hospital sent in a priest to deliver his last rites.

I remember it being very dark, he said. I remember being pretty confused. But I remember seeing the priest and knowing somewhere in my brain what this meant.

Through the haze of his illness, the priests visit flipped a switch in Fajgenbaums brain. He was supposed to be dead, and the fact that he wasnt was a gift a chance to squeeze just a little more life from whatever time he had left.

Ive kind of considered that moment to be the start of my overtime, he said.

If you think about the Eagles or any sports team, you can make a mistake in the first quarter, and you can make up for it. But in overtime, you cant make a mistake. Every second truly has to count.

And in overtime, theres this profound sense of focus, where everything has to be so intentional and there can be no wasted movement, no wasted time.

Its a lesson, Fajgenbaum said, that everyone should take to heart.

I can appreciate being in overtime because of how close Ive come to death and because I can hear the clock ticking, he said. But I also appreciate and realize that we should all live like were in overtime.

It was during another brush with death that Fajgenbaum had an epiphany: I realized I didnt regret anything that I had done or I had said. I only regretted the things that I had not done or had not said and would not be able to do.

Specifically, at that moment, Fajgenbaum regretted losing his girlfriend, Caitlin. The two of them had broken up six months before, when work and school forced them to go long-distance.

When we broke up, we both looked at one another and we said, You know, if its meant to be, itll work out. We have all the time in the world, Fajgenbaum said. And then, there I was, dying in a hospital bed, and realizing I didnt have any more time.

As soon as he was well enough, Fajgenbaum got in touch with Caitlin, and the two reunited.

The experience imprinted on Fajgenbaum the importance of action.

I had this really profound sense that, moving forward if I survived I would not just think about things, he said. If I was thinking about it, I should do it.

It led to one of Fajgenbaums life mottos: Think it, do it.

Around the time of Fajgenbaums third relapse, his father came to visit him in the hospital.

He was feeling better after high-dose chemotherapy, but looking the worse for wear. He was bald from the treatment, and had accumulated pounds of fluid around his middle because his liver and kidneys had stopped working.

But on that New Years Eve, he was feeling well enough for a walk around the hospital. On one of their laps, Fajgenbaum and his father encountered a drunk guy in the waiting room.

He was kind of like swaying in his chair, Fajgenbaum said.

On their next lap around, they found that the man had fallen to the floor.

And so my dad ran over and helped him back into his chair, Fajgenbaum said. And he looked at my dad and I, and he said, Thanks so much. Good luck to you and your wife. And I was like, `What is he talking about? And I looked at my belly, and I realized he thought I was my dads pregnant wife. And so I turned to my dad, I said, Dad, youve got an ugly wife! And the two of us just burst into laughter.

Only a few months before, Fajgenbaum said, he wouldnt have been able to laugh at something like that. But the more he learned about his own resilience, the more important humor became.

I think laughing in the face of death and disease is kind of the last thing that you think that you would want to do, he said. But actually, it kind of gave me like a sense of like, I dont know if it was like power over the disease, that like, Yes, disease. I know youre awful. I know youre killing me, and I know youre making me get chemotherapy and youre even making me look like a pregnant woman. But Im going to laugh with my dad, and this is going to be something that well never forget that time when this guy thought that I was, you know, my dads pregnant wife. And even though the disease was clearly winning, it made me feel like I was like doing something to fight back.

It took finding out that he was out of options that made Fajgenbaum decide to take matters into his own hands.

After finishing medical school, he attended the prestigious Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania, and launched the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network an organization designed to push forward the search for treatments.

He also started doing his own research, using himself as a subject.

For years, hed put his trust in the medical powers that be. But desperation made him realize that if he wanted a cure, he might have to find it himself.

The concept of turning hope into action is probably the thing thats made the biggest impact on my life, he said. I was a very hopeful person before I became ill. I believed that there was kind of an order to things. I just felt like, if it was important, that it would be done by someone somewhere. But Ive since learned that if its something that Im hoping for, or something that I or someone else is praying for, that we should figure out ways to actually make that a reality.

With the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, Fajgenbaum had put into motion a project that united researchers from around the world, and enlisted some of medicines finest minds to move the ball forward.

In general, developing new medications can take years and millions of dollars. But in the end, Fajgenbaum found his very own cure in a medication thats stocked in pharmacies on every corner.

With this fifth time I nearly died, I think the biggest lesson that I took from it is that solutions can sometimes be hiding in plain sight, he said. How many other drugs are there out there? How many other solutions are there out there for diseases and for other industries where they already exist? Just someone has to find it.

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5 lessons one doctor learned from the times he almost died - WHYY

Medical school – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Posted on June 1, 2015 by ev1

"Med school" redirects here. For the experimental music label, see Hospital Records.

A medical school is a tertiary educational institutionor part of such an institutionthat teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians and surgeons. Such degrees include the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS, MBBS, MBChB) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Many medical schools offer additional degrees, such as a Doctor of Philosophy, Master's degree, a physician assistant program, or other post-secondary education.

Medical schools can also employ medical researchers and operate hospitals. Around the world, criteria, structure, teaching methodology, and nature of medical programs offered at medical schools vary considerably. Medical schools are often highly competitive, using standardized entrance examinations, as well as grade point average and leadership roles, to narrow the selection criteria for candidates. In most countries, the study of medicine is completed as an undergraduate degree not requiring prerequisite undergraduate coursework. However, an increasing number of places are emerging for graduate entrants who have completed an undergraduate degree including some required courses. In the United States and Canada, almost all medical degrees are second entry degrees, and require several years of previous study at the university level.

Medical degrees are awarded to medical students after the completion of their degree program, which typically lasts five or more years for the undergraduate model and four years for the graduate model. Curricula are usually divided into preclinical sciences, where students study subjects such as biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, pathology, anatomy and physiology, among others, and clinical rotations, which usually include internal medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynecology, among others.

Although medical schools confer upon graduates a medical degree, a physician typically may not legally practice medicine until licensed by the local government authority. Licensing may also require passing a test, undergoing a criminal background check, checking references, paying a fee, and undergoing several years of postgraduate training. Medical schools are regulated by each country and appear in the World Directory of Medical Schools which was formed by the merger of the AVICENNA Directory for medicine and the FAIMER International Medical Education Directory.

In Kenya, medical school is a faculty of a university. Medical education lasts for 3 years, at the end of which the student is granted a degree. After graduating, there is a mandatory 12-month full-time internship at one of the Un Government hospitals, after which medical licensure as a General Practitioner (GP) is obtained. After that, the doctor has to register with the Ministry of Health, and the Kenyan Medical Syndicate ( ). The first 2 years of medical school cover the basic medical sciences, while the last 1 year are focused on clinical sciences.

Admission depends on the score of the applicant in his last 2 years of Kenyan Secondary School) ). Students having taken either the AS Level or the SAT can also apply, however there is a very strict quota to the number of students that get accepted by the admission office, which regulates entry into public universities. This quota does not apply to private universities. There are no entrance exams required for entry.

In Sudan, medical school is a faculty of a university. Medical school is usually 6 years, and by the end of the 6 years the students acquires a Bachelor degree of Medicine and Surgery. Post graduating there is a mandatory one year full-time internship at one of the University or Government Teaching hospital, then a license is issued.

During the first three years the curriculum is completed, and throughout the next three years it is repeated with practical training. Students with high grades are accepted for free in Government Universities. Students who score a grade less than the required would have to pay and must also acquire a still high grade. Students who take foreign examinations other than the Sudanese High School Examination are also accepted in Universities, students taking IGCSE/SATs and the Saudi Arabia examination.

There are five medical schools in Ghana: The University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, the KNUST School of Medical Sciences in Kumasi, University for Development Studies School of Medicine in Tamale, University of Cape Coast Medical School and the University of Allied Health Sciences in Ho, Volta Region.

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Medical School & Residency – American Academy of Family …

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Danzig

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