First Year
The Art & Science of Medicine I
The Art and Science of Medicine (ASM) courses (I & II) provide medical students with the core knowledge, clinical skills and professional attitudes essential for a seamless transition into the clinical years. Fundamental to this mission is a vision of competent physicians who provide compassionate patient-centered care dedicated to a biopsychosocial approach to health care delivery.
ASM I establishes a strong foundation in communication skills and professionalism for each student. The course will provide students with the tools they need to efficiently and expertly gather information within a patient-centered context. History is presented in a variety of settings, including small group interactive sessions, hospital rounds, and individual student and patient experiences. Woven into this longitudinal experience is exposure to various health care delivery systems, cultural and community awareness, patient education, interdisciplinary teamwork, and medical ethics. ASM preceptors provide medical students with strong clinical role models and mentorship. The ASM I component of the Longitudinal Clinical Experience facilitates student understanding of health care delivery and advocacy issues from the perspective of a patient whom they follow longitudinally over the course of ASM I.
Longitudinal Clinical Experience
The Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE) utilizes community-dwelling adults living with chronic illnesses as patient adjuncts in medical education. During the LCE program, medical students start to understand the primary provider's clinical reasoning and the team's patient-centered approach underlying the care of patients with chronic illnesses. It is during times of active teaching from the primary care provider and reflection with fellow students that they begin to learn about persons living with chronic illnesses and how their lives intersect with the current health care system. LCE partners a patient cared for by a Icahn School of Medicine faculty member with 2 first year medical students. The students establish a long-term relationship with these patients and their physician over the length of the course. Students observe first-hand challenges faced by patients living with chronic illnesses, how their chronic medical conditions impact their quality of life and the coping mechanisms they have developed to live with the challenges their chronic illnesses pose.
Introduction to Emergency Medicine
The Introduction to Emergency Medicine course is led by clinical emergency physicians and conducted using small group sessions. During these discussion-based sessions, students develop an approach to the undifferentiated acutely ill or injured patient, with an emphasis on pre-hospital management. Among other topics, sessions on chest pain, altered mental status, shortness of breath, trauma, childbirth, environmental and disaster medicine both teach the fundamentals of emergency care and offer a preview to the physiology, pathophysiology and clinical medicine to come. The small-group dialogue is augmented by a practical skills component where students receive hands-on instruction in a variety of procedures including immobilization, transport, splinting, CPR, wound dressing, and basic physical exam maneuvers. Students become Basic Life Support providers and are presented with the opportunity to further immerse themselves in emergency medicine by participating in faculty shadowing and ambulance ride-outs.
Molecules & Cells
Molecules and Cells is an interdisciplinary course that focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which cells receive and process extracellular signals, regulate gene expression, control organelle biogenesis, and divide or differentiate. It also explores the fundamentals of cellular metabolism. The relationship of these processes to human disease is emphasized as an underlying theme throughout the course. A clinician and a basic scientist jointly lead small group discussions of clinical scenarios that are interpreted in terms of the basic science taught in lecture. The course has a number of "clinical correlates," in which a physician presents a patient with a disease whose molecular basis has been discussed in lecture.
Embryology
The Embryology course provides an introductory survey of basic development of the human embryo. The course also provides insight into human developmental malformations and a meaningful framework for the subsequent study of gross anatomy.
Gross Anatomy
Gross Anatomy introduces students to the structure of the entire human body through sequential dissection and the use of imaging modalities. Surgeons and physicians facilitate anatomy faculty in teaching laboratories affording students the opportunity to learn the clinical and functional correlates of structure first-hand. In lectures and demonstrations, the latest diagnostic and procedural imaging technologies -such as CT, MRI, ultrasound, and use of minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches - are introduced. With the introduction of peer-dissection, the Anatomy course provides unique peer-teaching opportunities for enrolled students, as well as opportunities for senior students to return as Teaching Assistants to train as medical educators and share their knowledge and experiences.
Clinical Epidemiology
The Clinical Epidemiology course is designed to develop students' ability to read scientific and clinical literature in a critical way. Students are introduced to the tools of biomedical research: epidemiology and biostatistics. Small group exercises reinforce key concepts through actual Center for Disease Control (CDC) case studies in preventive medicine and critical appraisal of published epidemiologic research. The course emphasizes the logic of inquiry and concepts relevant to the decision-making process in clinical medicine, and is closely coordinated with key clinical topics taught in ASM I.
Physiology
The Physiology course encompasses the study of the physical and chemical processes that control the performance of normal human bodily functions. Physiology is taught from an organ system approach, with considerable focus and emphasis on the integration of these systems to maintain normal body function. Physiology incorporates a multitude of teaching approaches, including lectures, laboratories, clinical correlations, small group problem-solving sessions and human simulation. The goal is to provide students with a framework that facilitates the understanding of normal physiology and a foundation for the future study of pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease.
Histology
Histology encompasses the study of the structure and function of specialized cells, tissues and organs, and their organization into organ systems. This laboratory-based course uses a variety of teaching modalities including "virtual histology" on computers, enabling the students to access the slides at home and facilitating group work while looking at slides in class. Histology also provides students with unique peer-teaching peer-assessment opportunities: 1) The Clinico-Histologic Conference (CHC), wherein a group of six students presents a disease to the entire class, providing a clinical context and application of the histology studied in that day's lab. The CHC component of the histology course is designed to promote longitudinal and vertical integration and application of medical knowledge. 2) The Team Laboratory Chief (TLC), in which the TLC leads a group of six students through the lab, all the while encouraging group discussion, and is evaluated by their peers. 3) The Histology-Teaching Assistant Team, a program in which second year medical students and MD/PhD students review laboratory material each week. An interdisciplinary approach underlies the close coordination with Physiology and ASM I.
Immunology
The immune system is responsible for protecting the body from infection. The Immunology course introduces students to the organization of the immune system, how the ability to fight infections develops, and problems that result when immunity fails or when inappropriate responses are made against healthy cells and tissues. Clinical preceptors lead small group discussions of clinical correlates to human disease and case presentations.
Medical Microbiology
The main objectives of Microbiology course are to provide students with an understanding of clinically relevant pathogens and their treatment options, including the mechanisms by which pathogens cause disease, host immune responses, mechanisms responsible for clinical manifestations of infectious diseases and pharmacological treatment options for different organisms. The course also serves as an introduction to the basic epidemiologic and clinical aspects of infectious diseases, as well as to principles of therapy and prevention of disease. Individual microbes (viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic) are used to illustrate the general principles of microbiology and to teach about each of these important classes of human pathogens. The focus throughout the course is on the interaction between the human host and microbial pathogens. Clinical cases are used throughout the course to illustrate the concepts being taught. The course helps students develop an etiologic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Didactic methodologies include lectures, case-based small group discussions (SGDs), laboratory sessions and optional bedside rounds.
General Pathology
The main focus of this clinically oriented General Pathology course is to examine the basic and common responses of cells and tissues to various stimuli: cellular injury, adaptation and death, inflammation and repair, hemodynamic disorders, immunologic disorders and neoplasia. The course utilizes practical gross and microscopic laboratories and Team-Based Learning for case-based reinforcement of general pathological principles. General Pathology also provides a foundation for understanding the pathophysiology of specific organ systems in the second year.
Bench to Bedside
Bench to Bedside offers first year medical students with a two-week clinical selective focused on the application of basic science and clinical research to the care of patients. These clinical experiences highlight our institution's exceptional resources and career opportunities in translational medicine, and impart a deeper understanding of how science forms the foundation of clinical care. Students select amongst options including Global Health, Cardiology, Coronary Artery Disease, Sexual & Reproductive Health, HIV, Transplant Surgery, Geriatrics, Alzheimer's Disease, Autism, Pediatric Leukemia, Kidney Function and Liver Disease.
Courses Without Walls (CWW)
Courses Without Walls refer to essential themes in medical education. At the Icahn School of Medicine, these threads are woven throughout the core curriculum. Topics are taught and reinforced in depth and breadth as students advance in their training. Ultimately, the CWW themes build into a matrix that is horizontally and vertically integrated over the 4 year core curriculum, and is represented in the content and assessments of many host courses. CWW themes include Ethics, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Diagnostic Radiology, Palliative Care, Clinical Laboratories, Global Health, Population Health including evidence-based medicine, medical informatics and library science, Nutrition, Cultural Competency and Health Policy.