Medical School Updates
UNLV School of Medicine accepted its first class of 60 students in 2017 so is a newer medical school. October 29th, 2020 the Nevada Health & Bioscience Corp (NHBC) broke ground on the UNLV School of Medicine’s first permanent building mostly due to philanthropic donations. This new 135,000 square foot five story Medical Education Building will allow for expansion of its class size and can support a class size up to 120 students. It will contain clinical skills training labs, simulation suites, a cafe, a student lounge, and a learning resource center. There is also hope that the building will draw more biotechnology and pharmaceutical business to the area and boost the economy and generate jobs. They anticipate a 2022 opening of the building.
In North Carolina steps have been taken towards building a four-year medical school in Charlotte after a deal between two North Carolina health systems - Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest School of Medicine. The goal is to have a second Wake Forest School of Medicine campus in Charlotte. Currently they are hosting UNC School of Medicine third and fourth year students but that partnership will be ending with UNC looking to grow in Chapel Hill, Asheville and Wilmington. 30-40 third year students from Wake Forest will start rotations in Charlotte in the Spring. There is no information yet on the location or potential size of a second campus but they are estimated 48 students per class to start. The focus will likely be on population health and technology and leveraging that technology to reach rural areas. They hope to replicate the Innovation Quarter at the Wake Forest Winston-Salem campus. The plan is to submit an application to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education this August.
Meanwhile, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, a first year medical student and 11 of her classmates decided to write a more inclusive Hippocratic Oath for the class of 2024. It acknowledges lives lost to COVID -19 and the national civil rights movement, specifically naming people who have died at the hands of police, acknowledging a role for health care professionals in racial justice. This exercise is not uncommon and is an interesting exercise in identify your professional ethics early in your training.
The Honors Program in Medical Education, a seven-year BA/MD program between Northwestern undergraduate and the Northwestern University Feinberg school of Medicine has been permanently discontinued. There is some acknowledgement that these types of programs do not foster the diversity and inclusion intended due to a selection bias to students who have opportunities for exposure to medicine in high school.
On the topic of diversity, the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS) made the news for protests that occurred after not accepting 6 students from its pipeline Pre-Matriculation Program (PMP), a free post bacc program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. PMP participants are more than 100 times more likely to be accepted to the medical school but it is not guaranteed.
For students with an interest in Neuroscience the Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) received a $15 milliion gift to establish a Neurohealth institute focused on Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, movement disorders and neuro palliative care.
And back to COVID as always - the UT-Dell Medical School is building a post-COVID-19 treatment center to investigate and target treatment to those patients with persistent fatigue, headache, and confusion, amongst other symptoms.
