Brown University’s medical school has announced a new program, beginning in 2015, for students interested in primary care. Called the Primary Care and Population Health Program, it will enroll 24 students and focus on a new model of learning and training. Students in the program will focus on learning the medical knowledge necessary to becoming a good physician, in addition to public health policy, leadership skills, and how to work as part of a health care team.

–Liza Thompson, Expert Medical School Admissions Consulting

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The American Medical Association has announced an exciting new opportunity for medical schools to change the way they deliver medical education to meet the shifting needs of future physicians. The AMA has dedicated $10 million to medical schools which do the following:

• propose new ways to identify competencies amongst students;

• promote ways to enhance patient safety, performance improvement and patient-centered team care;

• improve students’ understanding of the health care system and health care financing; and

• optimize the learning environment.

This is a bold and exciting initiative which promises to bring improvements to medical education across a range of schools. Continue reading

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The demands of a career in medicine are well known. Physicians work long hours, go through rigorous training in residency, and have many competing demands on their time. Premed students often wonder how they’ll manage to balance their future personal and professional lives. A medical student at the University of Pennsylvania found herself at an unexpected crossroads when she encountered health problems that prompted her to make the decision to start a family while in school. She wrote about being pregnant in medical school in a recent issue of the New York Times. Continue reading

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