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UC Riverside celebrates medical school opening

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Danzig

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -

UC Riverside officials, students and community leaders today will celebrate the UCR School of Medicine as officially open to prospective students.

The campus received word Tuesday that the Liaison Committee on Medical Education -- the national accrediting body for programs geared to medical degrees in North America -- had given preliminary approval to UCR's proposed courses.

The decision paves the way for the university to begin accepting applications for its charter enrollment of 50 students in the fall of 2013.

"This is momentous ... for Inland Southern California and for UC Riverside," said UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White.

An informal celebration in recognition of the accreditation milestone is planned for 5:30 p.m. at Rivera Plaza, adjacent to Hinderaker Hall.

The LCME withheld accreditation approval in 2011, when it became clear the state would not be making annual funding available to UCR because of California's gaping budget deficit.

However, over the last year, the university has secured tens of millions of dollars in private donations, government grants -- including $20 million from Riverside County -- and UC system appropriations, enabling it to move ahead with opening its doors next fall.

"Working together, the community and the UCR campus simply persevered because expanding access to healthcare is one of the most pressing issues for Inland Southern California," UCR Medical School Dean Dr. Richard Olds said.

"This milestone enables us to ... begin expanding and diversifying our region's physician workforce."

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UC Riverside celebrates medical school opening

Med students get a feel of human body on iPad

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Danzig

By Poon Chian Hui The Straits Times Sunday, Oct 07, 2012

GIVEN the shrinking supply of cadavers here, the upcoming medical school at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will provide 3-D models of the human body on iPads to allow students to learn about anatomy.

The plan is to set up a central database of 3-D models of real-life patients.

NTU's Institute for Media Innovation (IMI), which is teaming up with the medical school to produce software for the tablet, will be recruiting local patients for the project.

For a start, it will focus on reproducing 3-D models of the lower limbs, said IMI director Nadia Thalmann, who created a virtual heart model back in the 1980s that paved the way for simulation surgery today.

This will be done by getting 2-D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from the patients to provide details of muscles and other structures. The patients will then be scanned with motion-capture technology. All these will be put together to yield a virtual representation of the muscles, tendons, joints and cartilage.

"The internal anatomy is as different as people's faces," Prof Thalmann said. "With patient-specific data, medical students can learn how to treat cases differently, depending on the person's age, amount of fat and how his skeleton moves."

Set to open next year, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine will also use the iPad as an "essential teaching and learning tool", said its senior vice-dean Martyn Partridge, adding that the provision of the device is still being worked out by the school.

"Putting such technology onto an iPad enables the student to visualise, learn and revise wherever they are."

Applications for the first batch of 50 students will open at the end of the year.

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Med students get a feel of human body on iPad

Doctors' group opposes Auburn medical school

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Danzig

Alabamas professional organization representing the states osteopathic doctors said it cannot support the creation of a new medical college in Auburn.

Members of the Alabama Osteopathic Medical Association (ALOMA) said construction of a new medical college in 2015 on the heels of another one slated to admit students in Dothan beginning next year could dilute the quality of medical school applicants in the state and create a glut of students looking to complete medical school requirements at locations throughout Alabama.

ALOMA President-Elect Dr. Brent Boyett said the organizations concerns were expressed in a letter sent to Gov. Robert Bentley, Auburn University President Jay Gogue and the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

Basically, we wanted them to know our concerns and that we could not support an additional school in the state of Alabama at this time, said Boyett, whose practice is located in Hamilton.

Dothans Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine is scheduled to admit its first class next year. Meanwhile in August, the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Virginia announced plans to construct a branch in Auburn. If the college is accredited, it should begin admitting students in 2015.

The final two years of a four-year Osteopathic Medicine track consists of residency in a hospital or other medical facility. Assuming classes of 150 per year, the Auburn school would mean doubling the number of students seeking residency from 300 to 600 by 2017.

We just wouldnt have enough rotation sites to accommodate these physicians and the real limiting factor in osteopathic medicine is real good clinical rotation sites, Boyett said.

A lot of this is just inexplicable to me. We were absolutely shocked when we heard of the announcement. Either they know a lot more than we do or we know a lot more than they do, Boyett said.

ALOMA is not the only organization to oppose the branch.

Dr. Neal Canup, State Director of Medical Education for the Alabama Medical Education Consortium, expressed opposition in a letter to state newspapers recently.

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Doctors' group opposes Auburn medical school

$2.5M boosts scholarships for medical students

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Danzig

SACRAMENTO Talented students who dream of becoming physicians but worry about the high cost of attending medical school have a new and promising opportunity at the UC Davis School of Medicine. The school has been awarded a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide scholarships to economically disadvantaged medical students.

UC Davis plans to use the new funding to provide $15,000 scholarships to more than 40 students each year who are interested in becoming primary care doctors in medically underserved communities.

"We are at a crucial time in health care," said Fred Meyers, executive associate dean, whose responsibilities include overseeing the teaching and community engagement missions for the medical school. "More than 5.5 million Californians live in medically underserved areas, places that have too few primary-care providers, higher-than-average infant mortality rates and high poverty rates. This new grant enables UC Davis to help reduce health disparities by encouraging and supporting the development of more primary-care physicians who represent diverse backgrounds."

Meyers said that UC Davis is determined to improve the quality of health care through innovations in clinical practices and a focus on the unique health needs of the communities its medical students will serve when they become physicians. He noted the school's emphasis on developing interprofessional teams to deliver patient- and family-centered care includes having physicians who can be role models of cultural inclusiveness.

"We know there are many academically qualified and talented students from diverse backgrounds who could become great physicians if they didn't have to worry about the financial challenges to getting a medical degree," said Tonya Fancher, associate professor of internal medicine who is overseeing much of the new grant program. "These scholarships address one of the major barriers to pursuing an advanced degree in medicine. The funding also allows UC Davis to expand its physician-training pipeline by increasing our student outreach and retention efforts."

The current cost of a four-year medical degree at UC Davis, including housing or food, is approximately $244,000. Students have an average debt of $139,000 after four years in school. About 100 students per year graduate from the School of Medicine.

UC Davis School of Medicine is known for graduating a high percentage of graduates who choose to practice medicine in rural and other underserved areas of the state. Many of its newly minted physicians eventually practice in Northern California. The school's curriculum features three community-oriented programs or tracks that focus on medically underserved areas of the state: rural, urban inner city and the San Joaquin Valley.

"Underserved communities are unable to provide optimal care for their residents," said Fancher. "Part of the reason is the lack of physicians. The Central Valley, for example, has some of the lowest rates of primary-care physicians in the state. Our goal is to increase that number and make sure they better reflect the populations they serve."

In addition to student scholarships, the school's retention and outreach initiatives for current and potential medical students include programs ranging from middle and high school presentations about health-care professions, to test preparation and pre-med advising for college undergraduates, to an array of educational support and counseling services that help students complete medical school and achieve success during residency and clinical practice.

HRSA's Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students program was established through the Disadvantaged Minority Health Improvement Act of 1990. Participating academic institutions are responsible for selecting scholarship recipients based on reasonable determinations of need. For more information about the UC Davis School of Medicine, visit http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/medschool/.

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$2.5M boosts scholarships for medical students

Voters will consider tax hike for Austin medical school

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Danzig

In a few weeks voters in Travis County will consider a plan to increase property taxes to help run a proposed medical school.

It's a medical over haul that promises a lot for Austin and Travis County. Thursday morning, a coalition of women's health care advocates gathered to endorse ballot Proposition number 1.

"While it cost to ramp up health care we can learn from other communities that access to housing and health care eventually drives down the cost related to emergency medicines to jail beds and to ems services, and it drives up earned income," said Ann Howard with Austin ECHO.

If Prop 1 is approved, the health district property tax would increase to 5-cents- per $100. For property valued at $214,000, which is about the average amount in Travis County, the annual district tax bill would go to $276. That breaks down to just over $20 a month.

The money raised, about $50 million a year, would help fund operating expenses for a medical school. The new complex near UMC Brackenridge would be operated by the University of Texas and the Seton Healthcare System.

Along with promising a healthy community, supporters say the medical school will be a major economic engine, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

Juanita Stephens, a financial advisor and member of a women's business support group, believes owners of small companies will be able to tap into an employment ripple effect.

"It broadens your horizon if you can think of anything a hospital needs our want go and provide it that's how it provides jobs here," said Stephens.

With businesses closed and others struggling to stay open, there are those who are opposed to Prop 1 that say it's just the wrong time to pass a new tax.

Many signs have been put up by the Travis County Taxpayer's Union opposing the proposition.

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Voters will consider tax hike for Austin medical school

In a first, Pakistani medical school will offer sex-ed

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Danzig

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan In the United States, health class has introduced generations of snickering sixth-graders to the fundamentals of sex.

But the terms sex and education are a mismatch in Pakistan: The subject simply is not taught in schools. Traditional cultural values have prevented any formal integration of the basics of the birds and the bees into the Islam-based education system.

Here, young people mainly learn about sex from whispered conversations with their schoolyard friends, or by experience. Many Pakistanis say their parents were loath to give them the facts about reproduction.

That leaves great room for misinformation, unsafe practices, uncontrolled family size, and abortion as a method of birth control, health advocates say.

The Koran strictly prohibits sex outside marriage. Many institutions here take that mandate so seriously that the very topic of sex has become taboo with teachers, and even family physicians shy away from broaching the subject with patients (including married ones).

The prohibition extends from primary schools to colleges. And, until now, no comprehensive sexuality courses have been taught in undergraduate medical colleges. Last month Dow University of Health Sciences, based in Karachi, announced that it will integrate reproductive health education into its curriculum beginning next academic year. The medical college said its future doctors will become prepared to treat patients for sexual and reproductive-related problems.

So when we talk of infections, we will talk of reproductive infections, said Sikander Sohani of the nonprofit organization Aahung, which collaborated with Dow University on developing the curriculum. When we talk of [medical] history-taking, we will talk about taking reproductive health history as well. So it is a holistic approach.

Aahung is an advocacy group focused on community programs promoting reproductive health and education in Pakistan. The Dow University sex-ed program will be taught to male and female students every semester. The group also developed a reproductive health guide for faculty and students that comports with the countrys cultural values.

Past attempts to teach sex-ed have met with fierce resistance from conservative religious leaders and parents wishing to protect their children from secular influences.

This was me when I was 10, one Pakistani said in an Internet forum conversation about sex-ed:

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In a first, Pakistani medical school will offer sex-ed

Ruhland is MSU's new starting center, before heading off to medical school

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Danzig

EAST LANSING -- Fifth grade is a time for pizza parties and whoopee cushions, but for fifth-grader Ethan Ruhland, it was a time to write a letter to himself and map out the rest of his life.

His mother, Gemma Ruhland, still has that letter and read it just last week. Some of the goals are different -- Ruhland had his sights on Harvard Medical School at the time -- but many are the same.

"He said he wanted to be a doctor so he can help people," said his mother, a nurse for a group of oral surgeons in Bingham Farms. "That hasn't changed. He's always been a kind-soul kid."

Football was a passion then and remains so for Ruhland, a Michigan State fifth-year senior center. Football would have won over medicine when Ruhland was an MSU freshman and thought he had to pick between the two.

Now medical school is just months away. But first, Ruhland will start the most important stretch of his football career Saturday at Indiana.

Years of balancing extreme demands has reached a culmination of sorts for the 6-foot-5, 290-pound Lake Orion High product. Before embarking in earnest on a career he first mentioned in second grade, Ruhland has a shot to experience some of what he envisioned for his playing career.

He is expected to start at center in place of Travis Jackson, who was lost for the season with a broken leg in last week's loss to Ohio State. As the season goes on, Ruhland will be in a three-man competition for two spots -- center and left guard -- with Jack Allen and Blake Treadwell.

"We're all kind of the big cheese coming out of high school," said Ruhland, who was ranked the No. 29 offensive guard in the nation for the class of 2008 by Rivals.com. "So you want to play. But I definitely, for the majority of my time here ... there's always frustrations, whether it's with yourself, the way you're playing.

"But it's all for the betterment of the team. Whatever I can do. And this is an opportunity. It comes at the expense of one of my best friends getting hurt, but I need to step up."

Ruhland has started one other game, last season against Minnesota with Jackson ailing. He has been in the playing rotation since he was a redshirt freshman in 2009 but has not had the kind of steady role that may now await him.

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Ruhland is MSU's new starting center, before heading off to medical school

UC Riverside Medical School gets preliminary accreditation; to begin enrolling future doctors next summer

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Danzig

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- After years of hard work, and last-minute fundraising, the University of California, Riverside's School of Medicine can finally open its doors.

On Tuesday, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) -- the national accrediting body for programs geared to M.D. degrees in North America -- gave preliminary approval to UCR's proposed courses.

"There certainly was a lot of cheering and a lot hugging by the way," said Dr. G. Richard Olds, UCR vice chancellor for health affairs and the dean of the School of Medicine.

Until now, the only way for medical students at UCR to become doctors was to spend two years at the university and then finish up at an accredited medical school, like UCLA.

"I'm just as excited as everyone else," said medical student Michael Castillo. "We've been waiting for this for a long time, and it's finally happening."

LCME's decision paves the way for the university to begin accepting applications for its charter enrollment of 50 students in the fall of 2013. UCR students are excited about the possibility of actually getting their medical doctorates without having to transfer.

"I'm actually from Riverside. I was born in Riverside. So I was hoping that the school got its accreditation and I'm glad it did," said medical student Janel Gracia.

Efforts toward establishing a medical school have been ongoing since 2006.

In 2011, the LCME withheld accreditation approval when it became clear the state would not be making annual funding available to UCR because of California's gaping budget deficit.

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UC Riverside Medical School gets preliminary accreditation; to begin enrolling future doctors next summer

CMU to build 2 medical school buildings in Saginaw

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Danzig

SAGINAW (WJRT) -

(10/04/12) - Saginaw will be home to two new medical school buildings in the coming years.

Central Michigan University unveiled drawings of the two buildings that will be part of CMU's new medical school. One building adjacent to Covenant Healthcare on the west side of the city, and the other near St. Mary's of Michigan, on the west side.

CMU decided on two sites that will feature two different medical trainings. Construction could begin next fall.

"The issue is really for people in our area having access to health care, physicians are one of the key players," said Dr. Ernie Yoder, CMU College of Medicine dean.

But Yoder says the school, which has already received more than 2,000 applications, will do more than develop doctors.

"So we are partnering with other health professions to make sure we do inter-professional team training, etcetera so that we attract and keep the other partners for the health care team," he said.

CMU has raised more than $16.4 million for the medical school.

"People have been forthcoming on that decision because they know the impact this will have on our community," said Doug Iles, CMU foundation development.

Now that the drawings have been unveiled, the school expects to reach its goal of $25 million.

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CMU to build 2 medical school buildings in Saginaw

Medical Academy Charter School in Catasauqua opens doors to first students

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

Medical charter school opens doors to first students

While jobs are in short supply in many industries, that's not the case in the medical field.

A new charter school in Lehigh County is now trying to address that need. The Medical Academy Charter School in Catasauqua is the first of its kind in the Lehigh Valley. It's goal is to better steer kids into the field of health care.

Between the algebra and history of the Jamestown settlement is an art class teaching students how drawing can turn to healing for the sick.

"This is an example of a Zen tangle art therapy method that psychotherapists may use to draw out emotions in patients," said teacher Carol Traynor.

The new school is using the promise of a career in health care to draw students in.

"This is where the jobs are going to be now and in the near future. It's ever growing," said Joanna Hughes, CEO and principal of the school, which opened in September to 9th and 10th graders.

The school, which will expand to 11th and 12th graders, infuses health care sciences into the general curriculum, Hughes said.

"We will provide the children with opportunities so that they can be an x-ray tech or a phlebotomist or someone who works in the office doing billing," Hughes said.

Taylor Fullin, who wants to be anesthesiologist, transferred from Northampton Area High School.

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Medical Academy Charter School in Catasauqua opens doors to first students

Children's Medical Center School Has New — And It Hopes, Permanent — Home

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

NEW BRITAIN

Inside a room that was part kitchen, part classroom, Mason Weldon, 16, was working with his teacher, Cindy Smith, on a batch of chocolate chip cookies. On the other side of the room, a classmate, Carlon Dudley, 19, filed student time cards.

Weldon and Dudley are taking part in the life skills curriculum offered by the Connecticut Children's Medical Center School. The school is for students 5 to 21 years old with severe emotional, cognitive and behavioral problems and require intensive help.

Run by the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, the school has had something of a transient existence and has wandered through the central Connecticut region since it was established in the 1940s. School officials hope that its new home, a former clothing warehouse on John Downey Avenue, will be a permanent one.

"It's much better," said Mason, taking time out from cooking duties. He's been a student at the school for the last seven years. "We've got more space. We've got a gym now."

Mason's comments reflected what a lot of people were saying at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility, which has been in session since last month..

Its last location in Wethersfield was always considered a temporary one.

"It was too small, too old," said Barbara Brown, senior director of the school. Brown has been with the CCMC School for about 30 years. In that time, the school has been at four locations.

It's mission and scope has changed significantly since it was founded as an in-house school to continue the education of children staying in the hospital for long periods. Newington Children's Hospital moved to Hartford in 1996 and changed its name to Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

Around the 1970s and early 1980s, the school shifted its focus to educating children with mental disabilities and behavioral problems. Now, 20 to 25 percent of the children at the school are on the autism spectrum. It's not so much a student's diagnosis that qualifies for entry to the school, but whether his or her condition causes them behavioral problems. They're referred to the CCMC School by their local school district, which pays for the student's tuition.

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Children's Medical Center School Has New — And It Hopes, Permanent — Home

Quinnipiac/St. Vincent's medical school wins approval

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Danzig

In a move that should help address the state's doctor shortage, Quinnipiac University soon will have a medical school. And it will have significant ramifications in this area.

The new medical school, which will have St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport as its primary clinical partner, received unanimous approval from the state Board of Education on Wednesday. Coupled with the announcement that the school also received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, Quinnipiac can start recruiting future doctors immediately.

Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine is expected to enroll a charter class of 60 students in August 2013 and grow to 275 students by 2017. Dr. Bruce Koeppen, founding dean of the new medical school, told the state board that the doctors Quinnipiac will create won't bury themselves in research labs, but rather be primary care physicians.

"Not only will it help address the current physician shortage, but it will provide long-term benefits to the state," said Elizabeth Beaudin, director of nursing and workforce initiatives for the Connecticut Hospital Association. "Because of health reform, more people will be receiving coverage. As such, we need more primary care physicians who will be involved in prevention and health promotion, as well as chronic disease management. This will ultimately result in healthier communities and fewer avoidable hospital visits."

Although clinical rotations are two years away, Koeppen said students would start getting clinical experiences at St. Vincent's in year one. "I expect eventually our medical students will set up free screening clinics for people in Bridgeport who don't have access to medical care or who can't afford it," said Koeppen.

Dr. Stuart G. Marcus, president of St. Vincent's Medical Center, said the alliance would change the culture of St. Vincent's and raise the bar for everybody. "Faculty members at St. Vincent's are looking forward to educating students in the clinical sciences and teaching them the principles of safe, reliable patient care of the highest quality," Marcus said.

In their third year of training, medical students will spend the majority of their time rotating through various departments at the hospital, including surgery, medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and family medicine. In year four, students will rotate through the intensive care and the emergency departments. The students will also have a presence in St. Vincent's outpatient sites, as well as two secondary training sites: MidState Medical Center in Meriden and Middlesex Hospital in Middletown.

The school will be located on Quinnipiac's North Haven campus. Koeppen anticipates the initial class will be selected from a pool of 2,000 to 3,000 applicants. The university is nearing completion of a new medical school classroom building and has hired 19 of 20 new faculty members. So far, Quinnipiac has spent $100 million on the effort.

This is the first time St. Vincent's has taken a lead clinical role with a medical school. Koeppen said he visited 16 hospitals in the state and invited them to become clinical partners. Five applied. All submitted position papers to outline what their partnership would look like.

That Bridgeport had a medically underserved population and didn't have a medical school affiliation attached to one of its hospitals played into the decision to select St. Vincent's, Koeppen said.

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Quinnipiac/St. Vincent's medical school wins approval

REGION: UCR gets OK to open medical school

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

After a long wait, UC Riverside has been cleared to open a four-year, independent medical school in August 2013, university officials said Tuesday.

Officials said they were told that they had received "preliminary accreditation" from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a national accreditation body for medical schools in the U.S. and Canada.

The School of Medicine will begin recruiting for its inaugural fall 2013 class, according to a news release.

"This medical school is critically needed to address our region's physician shortage and stimulate the economy," university Chancellor Timothy P. White said in a written statement.

This was UCR's second try at getting the OK to open.

The School of Medicine sought accreditation in summer 2011, only to be denied because of the state's refusal to commit a regular stream of funding.

At that point, founding medical school Dean G. Richard Olds turned his attention to raising money from local donors.

After securing enough commitments, UCR submitted another application in April.

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REGION: UCR gets OK to open medical school

Special ed students love the new Connecticut Children's Medical Center School

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 11:06 PM EDT

By Scott Whipple Staff Writer

When we came across 300 John Downey Drive [a former warehouse] we knew we had found the right home, she said.

Brown and other dignitaries helped celebrate Connecticut Childrens Medical Center School Tuesday on John Downey Drive during a special ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Walking through the doors of the new CCMC School, students, staff, parents and visitors have been awed by our expansive and modern state-ofthe-art facility, said Patricia Gerrity, CCMC School principal. Gerrity noted the newest technology in the classrooms, gymnasium and numerous resources for academic enhancement, emotional and behavioral growth.

Annalisa Russell-Smith | Staff Third grader Brianna Williams, left, speaking at the ribbon cutting for her new school, Connecticut Children's Medical Center School on John Downey Drive in New Britain Tuesday morning. At right is the school's principal, Patricia Gerrity.

That there were no stairs to tire you out, she said.

It was the cafeteria that impressed 10th-grader Hilson Mejias.

It was like awesome, he said. And the [school] colors are like a rainbow leading to a pot of gold.

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Special ed students love the new Connecticut Children's Medical Center School

QU's new medical school approved

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Quinnipiac University's new medical school has received it's accreditation, and will be ready for the next crop of students looking to become doctors.

The University will be recruiting its first class for the fall of 2013 after earning two important endorsements from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the State Board of Education.

Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine is named in honor of the noted surgeon and prolific medical illustrator.

"Adding a medical school to Quinnipiac's existing schools of law, health sciences, nursing, communications, education, business and engineering and College of Arts and Sciences will continue Quinnipiac's transformation into a major national university," Quinnipiac President John. L Lahey said in a statement. "When the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine enrolls its first medical students in the Fall of 2013, Quinnipiac will join fewer than 100 universities in America that have both law and medical schools."

The medical school will become the third in Connecticut, making St. Vincent's Medical Center of Bridgeport their primary clinical partner. This collaboration will give the residents in the state's largest city more access to health care. The medical school is also affiliated with MidState Medical Center in Meriden and Middlesex Hospital in Middletown.

"Applicants to our school can be assured that they will receive a high quality medical education that will prepare them for the contemporary practice of medicine," said Dr. Bruce Koeppen, the founding dean of the medical school.

The first class at the medical school will have 60 students and is expected to grow to 125 students per class by 2017.

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QU's new medical school approved

MCAT revisions bring change for medical school hopefuls

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

Freshmen aspiring to be doctors may now have to plan their class schedules a little differently.

The Medical College Admission Test will undergo its fifth revision since it was first administered in 1928 then called the Scholastic Aptitude Test for Medical Students.

In spring 2015, when the new changes will take effect, medical school hopefuls will sit for six and a half hours to take MCAT2015 almost two hours longer than the current version. Each year, more than 85,000 students take the exam.

The test will still consist of four sections, but they have been redivided. It will now consist of Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behavior and Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.

The Writing Section will also be discontinued.

The current version of the test has been in use since 1991, and the new version is likely to be in place until 2030, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The AAMC took into account all medical schools individual comments about the new MCAT, Perelman School of Medicine Senior Vice Dean for Education and professor Gail Morrison said. The new test will assume matriculating students have prior knowledge of biochemistry and statistics.

Familiarity with some concepts from social sciences will also be expected, Senior Associate Director of Career Services Peter Stokes said.

Clearly there is more to being a physician than being a good scientist, Stokes said. The AAMC has been looking at a variety of ways of finding applicants who are likely to bring other valuable skills, knowledge and experience to the profession.

Students who have taken psychology, cognitive neuroscience, statistics and epidemiology courses will now have use of this knowledge in medical school, Morrison said. The AAMC recognizes that these liberal arts courses will be helpful for students.

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MCAT revisions bring change for medical school hopefuls

UC Riverside gets preliminary OK to open med school

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

A national accrediting agency has approved UC Riversides plan to open a full medical school and to start enrolling future doctors next summer. It would be the sixth medical school in the University of California system and the first to open since the late 1960s.

Last year, the same panel rejected the proposal because it looked too risky after the state refused to fund the school. But UC Riverside officials have since secured enough other public and private financing for a program that they say will help ease a doctor shortage in the Inland Empire and improve public healthcare there.

Because we had tried and failed before, it is all the sweeter to have succeeded a year later, said UC Riverside medical school Dean G. Richard Olds, clearly pleased with the news.

The preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education allows UC Riverside to start recruiting students with the goal of enrolling 50 a year beginning next August, officials said. The agencys action was reported to be the first time in three decades that an American medical school was approved after previously having been denied.

Badly stung by last years rejection, Olds and other UC Riverside leaders campaigned for and won about $100 million in donations and pledges to support the school for 10 years. The donors included the UC system itself, Riverside County, the quasi-governmental Desert Healthcare District and affiliated hospitals.

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TV shows creepy clown billboards disturb Childrens Hospital

L.A. council votes to repeal ban on medical marijuana dispensaries

--Larry Gordon

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UC Riverside gets preliminary OK to open med school

Medical charter school opens doors to first students

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

Medical charter school opens doors to first students

While jobs are in short supply in many industries, that's not the case in the medical field.

Between the algebra and history of the Jamestown settlement is an art class teaching students how drawing can turn to healing for the sick.

"This is an example of a Zen tangle art therapy method that psychotherapists may use to draw out emotions in patients," said teacher Carol Traynor.

The new school is using the promise of a career in health care to draw students in.

"This is where the jobs are going to be now and in the near future. It's ever growing," said Joanna Hughes, CEO and principal of the school, which opened in September to 9th and 10th graders.

The school, which will expand to 11th and 12th graders, infuses health care sciences into the general curriculum, Hughes said.

"We will provide the children with opportunities so that can be an x-ray tech or a phlebotomist or someone who works in the office doing billing," Hughes said.

Taylor Fullin, who wants to be anesthesiologist, transferred from Northampton Area High School.

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Medical charter school opens doors to first students

Commission Approve Opening Of UC Riverside’s Medical School

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Danzig

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) There are only a handful of medical schools in California, and UC Riverside has just been added to the roster.

Officials have given preliminary approval to UCR medical schools proposed courses, which means the university can soon begin accepting applications, a campus spokesperson announced Tuesday.

This is momentous for Inland Southern California and for UC Riverside, UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White said.

This medical school is critically needed to address our regions physician shortage and stimulate the local economy, said White, who credited the Riverside communitys support in reaching this point.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education withheld accreditation approval in 2011 because Californias budget crisis would prohibit UCRs medical school from receiving sufficient funds.

The university has since secured millions in private donations, including $20 million from Riverside County, allowing plans for the medical school to move forward an endeavor that began in 2006.

Classes will be held in the new School of Medicine Research Building and the renovated School of Medicine Education Building, campus officials said.

Prospective students can begin submitting applications to the four-year program later this month when the medical school is added to the American Medical College Application Service.

This will be the sixth medical school added to the UC system, which hasnt inaugurated a new campus M.D. program since the 1960s.

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Commission Approve Opening Of UC Riverside’s Medical School

UB Medical School Names New Chair of Microbiology and Immunology

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Danzig

News Release

Bangs joins the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School.

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Release Date: September 27, 2012

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- James (Jay) D. Bangs, PhD, professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and an expert in the cell biology of the agent that causes African sleeping sickness, has been appointed the Grant T. Fisher Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The announcement brings to nine the number of new chairs and chair-level appointees recruited by Michael E. Cain, MD, UB vice president for health sciences and dean of the UB medical school, in the past four years. These national hires, Cain says, are a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical school's future.

According to Cain, Bangs rapidly emerged as the top candidate following a comprehensive national search, possessing all the skills needed to advance the UB department and expand its basic research programs in service of UB's 2020 strategic goals. Under Bangs, Cain says, the department will enhance the excellence of its research enterprise, undergraduate and graduate student education and mentored research training programs.

Bangs succeeds J. Iain Hay, who has served as chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for 20 years.

A faculty member and trainer for the microbiological doctoral training program at UW, and a member of its Center for Research and Training in Parasitic Diseases, Bangs will join UB in January 2013.

He conducts research on African trypanosomes, one-celled parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly, which cause African sleeping sickness in humans, a fatal disease that is reemerging throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

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UB Medical School Names New Chair of Microbiology and Immunology

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