Description: This course is required for all entering medical and dental students. It is designed to provide a broad overview of the profession of medicine and dental medicine. It introduces some of the intellectual, moral and ethical expectations placed upon you as you transition from student to physician-in-training. It also provides time to meet your classmates and orient yourself to Boston. The course meets for most of each day and involves both large and small group experiences. Course Manager: Eric Shames

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Description: Professional Development Weeks (PDWs) are required week-long intersessions that occur at two spaced intervals during the Pathways preclerkship phase. PDWs begin in the first month of the Pathways MD curriculum and are designed to encompass professional development in a broad sense: from self-reflection and self-assessment, to feedback, advising and planning, to consolidation and assessment of learning and for learning. Students participate in a Standardized Patient Encounter/OSCE, as well as workshops and large group sessions. By bringing together material from preceding courses and relating basic and social science to clinical skills, the goals of the PDWs are to consolidate and apply knowledge and skills, afford time and space to reflect, and provide opportunities to explore personal and professional interests. Course Manager: Tim Gailius

Description: Professional Development Weeks (PDWs) are required week-long intersessions that occur at two spaced intervals during the Pathways preclerkship phase. PDWs begin in the first month of the Pathways MD curriculum and are designed to encompass professional development in a broad sense: from self-reflection and self-assessment, to feedback, advising and planning, to consolidation and assessment of learning and for learning. Students participate in a Standardized Patient Encounter/OSCE, as well as workshops and large group sessions. By bringing together material from preceding courses and relating basic and social science to clinical skills, the goals of the PDWs are to consolidate and apply knowledge and skills, afford time and space to reflect, and provide opportunities to explore personal and professional interests. Course Manager: EJ Jarvie

Description: The Practice of Medicine (POM) is a weekly longitudinal course that integrates the teaching of the foundational communication, physical exam, and clinical reasoning skills during the first year of medical school. This year-long clinical course, which takes place one day per week throughout the first year of medical school, is designed to be fully integrated with a concurrent sequence of foundational basic and social sciences courses that together prepare students for entering the clinical clerkships and the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) in October of Year II. Students entering HMS are assigned to one of our affiliated hospitals (MGH, BWH, BIDMC or Cambridge Health Alliance) and receive their foundational clinical education in the POM at that site. In order to foster continuity in education and establish meaningful relationships and mentorship, students stay at the same hospital for their second year to complete the PCE. The POM offers students the opportunity to learn clinical medicine with a multifaceted approach focused on 1) interview & communication skills 2) physical exam, clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills 3) ambulatory care and inter-professional education and 4) professional development and reflection. Guided by expert faculty of core educators at each clinical site, students participate weekly in morning and afternoon sessions that alternate between inpatient and outpatient settings. During their time in the hospital sites, students work with a set of preceptors who help them navigate the curriculum and learn foundational communication and physical diagnosis skills. Students are also assigned to a primary care clinic where a preceptor guides them and helps them understand the fundamentals of clinical practice in the ambulatory setting and the roles and responsibilities of allied health professionals by active participation in inter-professional teams. There are specialized sessions on geriatrics, pediatrics, and delivering care in a cultural context and to patients with limited English proficiency, among other topics. This multifaceted approach delivers well-integrated clinical education while allowing students to establish meaningful, lasting relationships and mentorship with clinical teaching faculty at their assigned clinical sites. The structure allows students and faculty to establish continuity in education with opportunities for accountable assessment and for mentorship/advising/coaching. Our ultimate goal is to provide students with a core clinical education that is fully integrated across the basic, social, population and clinical sciences and that serves as the broad foundation for all their future learning. Course Manager: Eric Shames.

Description: The Practice of Medicine (POM) is a weekly longitudinal course that integrates the teaching of the foundational communication, physical exam, and clinical reasoning skills during the first year of medical school. This year-long clinical course, which takes place one day per week throughout the first year of medical school, is designed to be fully integrated with a concurrent sequence of foundational basic and social sciences courses that together prepare students for entering the clinical clerkships and the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) in October of Year II. Students entering HMS are assigned to one of our affiliated hospitals (MGH, BWH, BIDMC or Cambridge Health Alliance) and receive their foundational clinical education in the POM at that site. In order to foster continuity in education and establish meaningful relationships and mentorship, students stay at the same hospital for their second year to complete the PCE. The POM offers students the opportunity to learn clinical medicine with a multifaceted approach focused on 1) interview & communication skills 2) physical exam, clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills 3) ambulatory care and inter-professional education and 4) professional development and reflection. Guided by expert faculty of core educators at each clinical site, students participate weekly in morning and afternoon sessions that alternate between inpatient and outpatient settings. During their time in the hospital sites, students work with a set of preceptors who help them navigate the curriculum and learn foundational communication and physical diagnosis skills. Students are also assigned to a primary care clinic where a preceptor guides them and helps them understand the fundamentals of clinical practice in the ambulatory setting and the roles and responsibilities of allied health professionals by active participation in inter-professional teams. There are specialized sessions on geriatrics, pediatrics, and delivering care in a cultural context and to patients with limited English proficiency, among other topics. This multifaceted approach delivers well-integrated clinical education while allowing students to establish meaningful, lasting relationships and mentorship with clinical teaching faculty at their assigned clinical sites. The structure allows students and faculty to establish continuity in education with opportunities for accountable assessment and for mentorship/advising/coaching. Our ultimate goal is to provide students with a core clinical education that is fully integrated across the basic, social, population and clinical sciences and that serves as the broad foundation for all their future learning. Course Manager: Eric Shames.

Description: The Practice of Medicine (POM) is a weekly longitudinal course that integrates the teaching of the foundational communication, physical exam, and clinical reasoning skills during the first year of medical school. This year-long clinical course, which takes place one day per week throughout the first year of medical school, is designed to be fully integrated with a concurrent sequence of foundational basic and social sciences courses that together prepare students for entering the clinical clerkships and the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) in October of Year II. Students entering HMS are assigned to one of our affiliated hospitals (MGH, BWH, BIDMC or Cambridge Health Alliance) and receive their foundational clinical education in the POM at that site. In order to foster continuity in education and establish meaningful relationships and mentorship, students stay at the same hospital for their second year to complete the PCE. The POM offers students the opportunity to learn clinical medicine with a multifaceted approach focused on 1) interview & communication skills 2) physical exam, clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills 3) ambulatory care and inter-professional education and 4) professional development and reflection. Guided by expert faculty of core educators at each clinical site, students participate weekly in morning and afternoon sessions that alternate between inpatient and outpatient settings. During their time in the hospital sites, students work with a set of preceptors who help them navigate the curriculum and learn foundational communication and physical diagnosis skills. Students are also assigned to a primary care clinic where a preceptor guides them and helps them understand the fundamentals of clinical practice in the ambulatory setting and the roles and responsibilities of allied health professionals by active participation in inter-professional teams. There are specialized sessions on geriatrics, pediatrics, and delivering care in a cultural context and to patients with limited English proficiency, among other topics. This multifaceted approach delivers well-integrated clinical education while allowing students to establish meaningful, lasting relationships and mentorship with clinical teaching faculty at their assigned clinical sites. The structure allows students and faculty to establish continuity in education with opportunities for accountable assessment and for mentorship/advising/coaching. Our ultimate goal is to provide students with a core clinical education that is fully integrated across the basic, social, population and clinical sciences and that serves as the broad foundation for all their future learning. Course Manager: Eric Shames.

Description: The Practice of Medicine (POM) is a weekly longitudinal course that integrates the teaching of the foundational communication, physical exam, and clinical reasoning skills during the first year of medical school. This year-long clinical course, which takes place one day per week throughout the first year of medical school, is designed to be fully integrated with a concurrent sequence of foundational basic and social sciences courses that together prepare students for entering the clinical clerkships and the Principal Clinical Experience (PCE) in October of Year II. Students entering HMS are assigned to one of our affiliated hospitals (MGH, BWH, BIDMC or Cambridge Health Alliance) and receive their foundational clinical education in the POM at that site. In order to foster continuity in education and establish meaningful relationships and mentorship, students stay at the same hospital for their second year to complete the PCE. The POM offers students the opportunity to learn clinical medicine with a multifaceted approach focused on 1) interview & communication skills 2) physical exam, clinical reasoning and diagnostic skills 3) ambulatory care and inter-professional education and 4) professional development and reflection. Guided by expert faculty of core educators at each clinical site, students participate weekly in morning and afternoon sessions that alternate between inpatient and outpatient settings. During their time in the hospital sites, students work with a set of preceptors who help them navigate the curriculum and learn foundational communication and physical diagnosis skills. Students are also assigned to a primary care clinic where a preceptor guides them and helps them understand the fundamentals of clinical practice in the ambulatory setting and the roles and responsibilities of allied health professionals by active participation in inter-professional teams. There are specialized sessions on geriatrics, pediatrics, and delivering care in a cultural context and to patients with limited English proficiency, among other topics. This multifaceted approach delivers well-integrated clinical education while allowing students to establish meaningful, lasting relationships and mentorship with clinical teaching faculty at their assigned clinical sites. The structure allows students and faculty to establish continuity in education with opportunities for accountable assessment and for mentorship/advising/coaching. Our ultimate goal is to provide students with a core clinical education that is fully integrated across the basic, social, population and clinical sciences and that serves as the broad foundation for all their future learning. Course Manager: Eric Shames.

Description: The set of courses comprising Foundations are organized into three discipline-specific themes: Molecular, Cellular and Genetic Basis of Medicine (cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, and pharmacology); Structure and Function of the Human Body (anatomy, histology, developmental biology); and Mechanisms of Defense and Disease (pathology, immunology, microbiology). The content is selected to emphasize the key principles of each field, yet most topics are taught in an integrated fashion to help students identify conceptual links between fields. For example, cell signaling is taught in the context of how signaling pathways are perturbed by mutation or disease and how drugs are used to intervene in signaling pathways. To complement discipline-oriented teaching, Foundations introduces several disease-specific themes that are used to teach content in a longitudinal and integrated fashion, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Course Manager: Rob McCabe.

Description: This course focuses on commonly encountered and/or highly instructive diseases of the skin, joints, muscles and blood vessels, systemic diseases that involve these tissues, and on the mechanisms and manifestations of autoimmune and allergic diseases. The integrating theme of IDD is immune/inflammatory mechanisms of disease, with a focus on dysregulated or inappropriately targeted immune responses that give rise to autoimmune and allergic diseases. Causes and manifestations of acquired immunodeficiency (both iatrogenic and infectious) are also covered. Other clinically important aspects of Dermatology and Rheumatology that do not readily associate with the immune/inflammatory theme, such as skin cancer, and osteoarthritis are included. Course Manager: Neylis Sanchez.

Description: Essentials of the Profession brings together the social and population science relevant to the practice of medicine and dentistry. It covers and integrates key concepts and methods of clinical epidemiology, population health, health care policy, social medicine, and medical ethics and professionalism. The course is taught in the January block of Year 1. Course Manager: Rob McCabe.

Description: Homeostasis I focuses on key concepts that underlie normal physiology and the pathophysiology of common respiratory, cardiovascular and hematologic disorders. The course addresses illustrative principles that form the basis for the understanding of related conditions that are less prevalent. The central theme is the support of aerobic metabolism via gas exchange, oxygen delivery and utilization, and the role of the components of blood. To support a pedagogical approach that emphasizes inductive reasoning, analytical thinking, and problem-solving, the course content emphasizes a series of case-based questions, the answers to which require students to have both factual knowledge as well as a deeper understanding that enables them to apply the information in a range of clinical contexts. Most of the teaching is done in sections of 42 students using a flipped classroom and team-based learning approach. In addition, small group work, independent of faculty, occurs daily to consolidate learning from assignments and to facilitate peer instruction. Content is integrated across organ systems to emphasize a holistic approach to health and disease. Three core faculty members work with students in a longitudinal learning experience that continues for the entire nine weeks of the course. Course Manager: Neylis Sanchez.

Description: Homeostasis II focuses on key concepts in normal physiology of the kidney, gastrointestinal, endocrine and reproductive endocrine systems. Then, Homeostasis II explores disorders that are common to patients and that provide sufficient foundation so that when students encounter other disorders, they have the foundation needed to understand these problems. The common theme is homeostasis and how derangements in one system can affect other systems. To support a pedagogical approach that emphasizes inductive reasoning, analytical thinking, and problem-solving, the course content emphasizes a series of questions, the answers to which require students to have not only factual knowledge but deeper understanding that enables them to apply the information in a range of clinical contexts. Most of the teaching is done in sections of 42 students using case-based collaborative learning. In addition, small group work independent of faculty occurs regularly to consolidate learning from assignments and to facilitate peer instruction. Content is integrated across organ systems and with consideration of content from earlier course work to emphasize a holistic approach to health and disease. In addition, content that explores health equity, anatomy, pharmacology and pathology is integrated. Core faculty members from each domain work with students in a longitudinal learning experience that continues for the ten weeks of the course. Course Manager: Rob McCabe.

Description: This multidisciplinary course focuses on topics that range from basic neuroscience, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to the clinical correlates of neurologic disease, diagnosis and psychopathology. The course content emphasizes clinical vignettes to highlight principles of localization of neurologic problems and analytical thinking while also incorporating neuropathology and neuroimaging. Students apply basic neuroscience and anatomy concepts to clinical scenarios. In addition to neuroanatomy, the course covers a wide range of neurologic disease categories including, stroke and cerebrovascular disease, movement disorders, seizures and epilepsy, neuroimmunology and multiple sclerosis, dementia and neuro-oncology. An introduction to pediatric development is also covered. Psychiatric illnesses and symptom domains include mood, psychosis, anxiety and traumatic stress, substance use, and personality disorders. Psychiatric teaching emphasizes a patient-centered approach focused on individual experience of illness as well as biological, psychological, and social contributions to dysfunction and disability. CBCL sessions and psychiatric clinical skills teaching are augmented by site visits in which students practice psychiatric interviewing under the supervision of faculty at multiple HMS-affiliated clinical sites. Course Manager: Neylis Sanchez.

Description: Transition to the PCE represents the move from the classroom to the workplace-based, interprofessional learning environment. The course consolidates material learned during Year 1 and builds on this foundation to develop knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary for success in the clerkships, including critical thinking, teamwork, medical knowledge, and clinical skills. Using a series of cases, students are introduced to the clerkships through application of curricular themes including anatomy, pharmacology, and pathology. Societal themes are explored in depth, building on year 1 in areas such as structural racism in medicine, health equities and disparities, women’s health, gender and sexual minority health, elder care, and interprofessional education. Simulation sessions provide opportunities for students to strengthen knowledge and skills, and to lay the groundwork for their PCE learning experiences. Course Manager: Caitlin Hoey.

Description: The “Essentials of the Profession” course introduced students in Year I to core principles of clinical epidemiology, health policy, medical ethics and professionalism, population health, and social medicine. That course taught students how to think critically about medical knowledge and how to understand the social and political contexts of health and health care in the United States. “Essentials II: Advanced Social and Population Sciences for Medicine” builds on this foundation and includes a novel collaboration with Harvard Business School to discuss Healthcare Delivery and Leadership. The course is structured to integrate across disciplines; incorporate PCE and post-PCE clinical experiences; and evaluate and design solutions. Course objectives include the following: • Interpret and critique data from various sources to explore and improve population health problems and employ clinical epidemiology concepts to critically appraise population health research studies; • Identify the complex interplay of social and structural forces that affect health and health care to improve clinical care and advance health equity; • Assess the health policy context in which our health care system operates and how it informs and impacts clinical practice, while discovering opportunities for innovation and reform; • Discuss and appraise the ethical principles that underlie clinical care, research, and professionalism, and apply these principles to ethical issues in practice. • Understand, apply and critique the key tenets of value-based health care and their application to health care organization, delivery and assessment. Teaching occurs in large and small groups. Course Manager: Neylis Sanchez.