Themes in Medicine are delivered within the Personal and Professional Development (PPD) curriculum.

Description

This component of the curriculum emphasizes several longitudinal themes in medicine that are integrated throughout medical school with increasing complexity and clinical relatability. The themes incorporate key topics across all years of medical education, using small-group discussions, literature reviews, role-play, guest speakers, and experiential learning to build students' knowledge and clinical skills.

Overall goal 

The Themes in Medicine prepare future physicians to deliver evidence-based, ethical, equitable, and patient-centered care while developing leadership, professionalism, and resilience throughout training and practice.

  • Hot Topics in Medicine from a local, national, and international perspective: Topics may change annually and explore emerging issues such as artificial intelligence in healthcare and medical education, planetary health, physician impairment, academic leadership, and responses to public health crises.
  • Behavioral Science, Physician Development, and Wellbeing: Focuses on professional identity formation, physician wellness, communication skills, and building strong therapeutic relationships through interactive sessions and standardized patient encounters.
  • Bioethics and Humanities: Covers ethical principles, legal precedents, clinical decision-making, ethics committees, and ethical considerations surrounding new technologies such as AI.
  • Health System Science: Examines the U.S. healthcare system, including healthcare delivery, insurance, quality improvement, patient safety, medical error disclosure, leadership, advocacy, and health policy.
  • Evidence-Based Medicine and Public Health: Develops skills in evaluating medical literature, applying evidence to clinical decision-making, understanding public health systems, health promotion and disease prevention, population health, and addressing health misinformation.
  • Health Equity: Emphasizes the impact of social, cultural, historical, and structural factors on health outcomes. Topics include health disparities, social determinants of health, cultural competence, and learning from patient experiences through community and patient panels.