No. 355,
April 2003
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Students very positive about
clerkships
"Attendings
and teaching awesome" was one of the many positive comments about clerkships
collected in a recent survey of Year 3 and 4 students. The overwhelming
majority of students rated the quality of clerkship experiences overall and
faculty teaching as either Outstanding or Very Good. The survey covers
clerkships in Medicine 1 and 2, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Ob-Gyn,
Otolaryngology, Pediatrics and Surgery from Sept. 10, 2001 to Sept. 10, 2002.
Among the major strengths cited were the quality of teaching by faculty and
residents, the diversity and volume of patients, and the considerable
responsibility for patient care given to students as members of a team. For
more information, contact Ilene Harris, Ph.D., or Ted Thompson, M.D. Detailed
information on each clerkship will be shared with course directors and
department heads.
Teaching awards to two in Medical
School
Ilene Harris and Marc Jenkins are among the 16 U of M faculty who will be inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at a special ceremony on April 21 at 3:30 p.m., at the McNamara Alumni Center. As lifetime Academy members, Harris, Medical Education, and Jenkins, Microbiology, will provide leadership to the University community by serving as mentors, advisers, and spokespersons for the University's mission. To attend the ceremony, register online at www.alumni.umn.edu/distinguishedteaching or call 612-624-2323.
Match Day results
A slim
majority of the Class of 2003, just 51.3 percent, matched in primary care
residencies last month. Yet of alumni of the Rural Physician Associate Program,
61 percent matched in primary care. Of the 207 graduating, 35 will be residents
in internal medicine, 47 will be in family practice, 16 will be in pediatrics,
and 3 will be in medicine/pediatrics. Outside of primary care, 22 chose surgery
residencies, 11 chose obstetrics and gynecology, and 10 chose emergency
medicine. Continuing a trend, nearly 60 percent, or 117 people, will be placed
in Minnesota residency programs. The others take places from the Bronx, N.Y.,
to Los Angeles, with California leading the list of states with nine residents
matched from the University of Minnesota.
Alpha Omega Alpha newbies
Junior
AOA members have been named for the Class of 2003. They are Kathryn Berman,
Joseph Browning, George Caucutt, Tenner Guillaume, Bradford Johnson, Chris
Jokinen, Emily Korell, Amanda Morehouse, Nicole Nader, LeVon O'hAodha, and
Chloe Zera. AOA recognizes excellence in the medical profession and seeks to
perpetuate it. These 10 are to be congratulated for their achievement. Students
are selected from the top one-sixth of the class---one-fourth in junior year and
the remainder in senior year. For more information about AOA, see
http://www.student.med.umn.edu/AOA/.
Collegiality Day
Year 2
students from Duluth come to the Twin Cities campus April 8 for Collegiality
Day. After orientation and tours in the morning, they and Twin Cities Year 2
students will gather to elect their class president, then lunch with their
advisors before attending On Doctoring. After the program, Year 2
students will have an opportunity to meet with Year 4 students to talk about
their matches and specialties. Faculty are encouraged to come join the students
at Sostanza.
On Doctoring: From Poodle Skirts to
Body Piercings
Adolescent
health in modern America is the topic of the latest in the On Doctoring
series on science, medicine, and the social fabric, April 8, 1:30 p.m. in Moos
2-650. Leading off the discussion with "Adolescence: a stage of development, a
field of medicine" will be Robert Blum, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of
the University of Minnesota's Center for Adolescent Health and Development
Program. Neurodevelopment, adolescence and resilience, youth perspectives on
health care, and major issues in youth health also will be discussed. The
program ends about 4:30 p.m.
Spink lecture on infectious disease
The Wesley
W. Spink Memorial Lectureship this year is "The spread of the White Plague in
the Third World: using microarrays to explore mechanisms of latent
tuberculosis." It will be presented by Gary K. Schoolnik, M.D., professor of
medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, starting at 12:15 p.m.,
April 10, at Moos 2-690. Spink's work helped to make the University of
Minnesota a center for research in infectious disease.
Reflections on the revolution in
biology
"The
promises and perils of the revolution in biological sciences" will be discussed
by Scott Selleck, M.D., Ph.D., a faculty member in the Departments of
Pediatrics and of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, 2 p.m. April 16, in
the Coffman Theater. "Our ability to manipulate and even design biological
systems comes at a time when human populations are altering the world
ecosystem," according to Selleck. "What can we do to make sure that our
biological knowledge and technology helps to solve our problems and not
contribute to them?" His talk is presented by the College of Biological
Sciences Spring Forum.
A new season of Health Talk &
You
The 16th
and final season of Health Talk & You kicks off Sunday, April 6, on Twin
Cities Public Television. The program, hosted by Greg Vercellotti, senior
associate dean for education, shows how scientific discoveries are being
translated into new cures and treatments at the University of Minnesota.
Produced by the Academic Health Center Office of Communications, the 12-week
season will be broadcast on TPT Channel 17 at 7 p.m. on Sundays and repeated at
2 p.m. Wednesdays on TPT Channel 2. The first program focuses on women's
health. For the full schedule of Health Talk & You programs, go to
www.healthtalkandyou.com.
Student honored
Quy Ton, second-year student, was selected one of 30
Paul and Daisy Soros Fellows. The award includes a grant of up to $20,000 a
year and partial tuition. The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships provide
opportunities for new Americans to achieve leadership in their chosen fields.
Harambe: "Let's all pull together"
Harambe, an evening of arts and culture begins with Indian food and arts at 5:30 April 5 in Coffman's theater. Starting at 7 p.m., the Harambe show features poetry and spoken word; dancing, from break to Chinese lion; music from hip-hop to classical; and a variety of visual arts. Harambe is designed to pull together the Medical School, the University, and surrounding neighborhoods with a sense of community through the arts. Suggested donation is $5. For tickets or more information, contact Cuong Pham at pham0079@umn.edu.
Condolences to a colleague
Our colleague Rick Ziegler, dean of the School of
Medicine-Duluth, has suffered a loss. His wife, Cathy, passed away peacefully,
surrounded by those she loved, Friday morning in St. Mary's Hospital's hospice.
Our condolences go out to Rick, to the family, and to all those who gave Cathy
love and support during her long illness with cancer.
Editor's note: Meeting LCME
standards for Student Services
As we prepare for our LCME accreditation site visit March 28, 2004, we
are examining the progress we have made since the last site visit in 1997 and
the follow-up visit in 1999.
In 1997, LCME visitors to the University of Minnesota Medical School
expressed concern about two areas within student services. Career counseling
did not appear to be systematically available and a system for personal
counseling for students was not evident to the team.
Concerns about career counseling have been addressed in several ways.
To help them choose a specialty, students now have online access to the AAMC's
Careers in Medicine course. The Medical School also has developed, through the
Ramsey and Hennepin County Medical Societies and the Minnesota Medical
Foundation, a community-physician mentorship program for first- and second-year
students. In addition, at the start of their second year, students can attend a
fourteen-week series of meetings that introduce the various specialties.
As students prepare to enter the third year, they select clinical
program advisors who will help in career guidance. Acting as friends, role
models, mentors, and aids to networking, these clinical program advisors meet
with students at least twice a year and, once students express an interest, can
help them connect with a physician in their potential specialty. A career
counseling office has been established and specialties are regularly presented.
Personal counseling for students is now available 24/7 through the
Confidential Assistance and Referral Expertise (CARE) program, which is modeled
on an employee assistance program and is run by an outside firm. A confidential
peer assistance program is another option for students, as are the University's
counseling service and Boynton Health Center.
For details on these programs, see the Medical Student Handbook online at www.meded.umn.edu or the Minnesota Medical Foundation Web site, www.mmf.umn.edu. The LCME accreditation standards are available online, in both narrative and annotated versions, at www.lcme.org.