Medical School Preparation
Coursework: The M.S. program builds on an already established undergraduate pre-medical education in order to thoroughly prepare students for the rigors of medical education. Students are matriculated into a curriculum which provides an integrated approach to learning physiology; through didactic, laboratory, and discussion-based class sessions. Students build a physiology foundation through completion of our program requirement, HBY501 (Systems Physiology), and then learn to apply and interpret this basic knowledge in courses such as HBY590 (Modeling and Simulation in Systems Physiology) and HBY690 (Clinical Correlates). Additionally, this method utilizes journal clubs to familiarize students with current basic and clinical science approaches to studying topics and problems in physiology and medicine. Our M.S. program also provides students with hands-on experiences tied to learning physiology (as completed through our laboratory course, HBY564 Experimental Techniques in Systems Physiology).
Research: Additional to the coursework required, the M.S. program helps in preparing students for medical education through research opportunities. Problem solving and critical thinking skills are developed as students are paired with department (and university) basic science investigators for the completion of graded research credits.
Mentoring: Individual mentoring is provided to students tailored to their educational goals. Regular meetings with the program director, and associated program faculty, ensures that students are performing to acceptable standards in the required coursework and have the opportunity to have any questions or concerns addressed. Program faculty work with students regarding their medical school applications, personal statements, and provide letters of support.
Additional Opportunities: The M.S. program has sponsored sessions through both counseling services and a learning specialist to address the needs of our graduate students. These sessions have been geared towards time-management topics and learning strategies, in an attempt to make students better prepared for the accelerated pace of both graduate and medical educational tracks. Additional learning specialist sessions have also been offered to select students in an attempt to foster elevated MCAT scores for medical school consideration.