FIU College of Medicine leads the way for the future of medical education

MIAMI (April 13, 2009) – The FIU College of Medicine, which will welcome its first class in August, has been designed to serve as a model for 21st Century medical education. All key aspects of the school, especially its community-focused curriculum centered around NeighborhoodHELP, represent a leap forward in the proud tradition of educating doctors.

This new approach was further validated earlier this year by the recommendations put forth in a Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation report titled “Revisiting the Medical School Educational Mission at a Time of Expansion.” The report resulted from a conference convened to address complex issues concerning medical education. The Macy Foundation is a private philanthropy dedicated to improving the health of individuals and the public by advancing the education and training of health professionals.

One of the central aspects of the curriculum at FIU will be NeighborhoodHELP (Health Education Learning Program), a community-centered program that will place each medical student in a team that will include students from nursing, social work, public health, and others. Each medical student will spend three years working with a household in North Miami-Dade County. The interdisciplinary cooperation is similar to the model that is taking shape in modern medicine, as doctors collaborate with counterparts, such as social workers, to address a patient’s needs.  

“Our students will stay with these families and learn from them at the same time that they contribute to their health and education,” said Rock. “They will have a rare opportunity to witness the progression of disease, learn about the hurdles individuals must overcome, and in the process, become part of the solution to our healthcare crisis. We are creating what I believe will be the model for medical schools in the future.”

Some aspects of the FIU College of Medicine that closely track with the recommendations of the Macy Foundation report are:

• The 43 students who will make up the College of Medicine’s inaugural class were chosen as much for their commitment to medicine and improving their community as for their standardized test scores and grades. This goes along with the recommendation in the Macy Foundation report that medical schools must reduce their reliance on standardized tests, college grade point averages, and traditional undergraduate course requirements in selecting applicants for admission and that all medical schools have an obligation to educate future physicians who are prepared both to assess and to meet the health needs of the public.
• FIU College of Medicine students come from diverse backgrounds, in line with the Macy Foundation recommendation that medical schools provide a physician workforce drawn from all sectors of American society.
• NeighborhoodHELP will be key in fostering greater inter-professional teamwork and collaboration, another recommendation in the Macy Foundation report.

The FIU College of Medicine is expected to generate 66,000 new jobs and have an economic impact of $8.9 billion by 2025.

The full Macy report can be read here: http://www.josiahmacyfoundation.org/documents/Macy_MedSchoolMission_10_08.pdf

Media Contact: Madeline Baro at 305-348-2234. 

-FIU- 

About the FIU College of Medicine:
The College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature.  In 2008, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education of the AAMC and will admit its first class in the fall of 2009. Among the innovative elements of the FIU College of Medicine is a program called NeighborhoodHELP, which will send medical students along with their counterparts in social work, nursing and public health, into the community from the onset of their academic programs. The FIU College of Medicine is expected to have a multi-billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County, bringing thousands of jobs to the area and eventually contributing millions to the state coffers every year. For more information visit http://medicine.fiu.edu/

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will welcome its first class in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.