Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons

Discover. Educate. Care. Lead.

At P&S, we Strive to Provide the beSt PoSSible educAtionAl exPerience, helping new students learn from our award-winning scientists, renowned clinicians, and su-perb medical educators. In addition, our educational experience is unusual in its emphasis on extracurricular activities that help our students grow personally as well as professionally.

This Fall, we opened new, modern educational space, with classrooms specifically designed to incorporate new technologies into team-based learning. After spending 18 months in this newly designed science curriculum and a year in required clinical clerk-ships, each student will then select a “major” area of emphasis under the tutelage of a faculty mentor. Throughout the experience, each student will be guided by an advisory dean, a senior faculty member who will help each student plan her or his personalized educational experience. In the clinical arena, students will help in the care of vulnerable populations with no other healthcare options and patients who could choose to have their care anywhere in the world. Our students see the most basic of medical problems, as well as the most complex of quaternary care. Our students also have a remarkable range of op-tions to pursue research, ranging from the most fundamental to translational and clinical research, as well as to participate in a wide range of global educational experiences.

Our extracurricular activities, centered around the Bard Hall residence, include Bard Hall Players theater productions and monthly Musical Monday classical performances, Rugby Club and other athletic programs, Lang Youth teaching and mentoring program for local adolescents, International Health Organization and many more community service, advocacy and specialty interest programs. This “informal curriculum” provides much of the “glue” that brings such life-long camaraderie to the P&S experience.

Top medical school candidates will always have a wide range of potential options for obtaining their medical education. Here at P&S, we take great pride in providing our students with educational opportunities that will prepare them to fulfill all of their professional aspirations while simultaneously participating in a wide variety of activities that will ensure their personal growth. We encourage you to explore these unique op-portunities at P&S as you consider your future in medicine.

P&S Deans (pictured below clockwise from top-left): Ronald E. Drusin, M.D., Vice Dean for Education, Stephen W. Nicholas, M.D., Associate Dean for Admissions, Hilda Y. Hutcherson, M.D., Associate Dean

for Diversity Affairs and Anke Nolting, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Alumni Relations and Development.

lee Goldman, M.d. Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine (pictured top)

lisa Mellman, M.d. Senior Associate Dean Student Affairs (pictured left)

For detailed information, please refer to the P&S Student Handbook http://juno.cumc.columbia.edu/ps/handbook

Welcome from the Deans

1917. P&S admits women for the first time.

Notable women pioneers at P&S include Hattie Alexander, Virginia Apgar, Virginia Frantz, and Dorothy Andersen. (pictured below, left to right)

1928.Columbia-Presbyterian

Medical Center, the world’s first medical center to combine complete facilities for patient care, medical education and research in a single complex, is dedicated in Washington Heights.

1956.P&S researchers André Cournand

and Dickinson Richards receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in cardiac catheterization.

1984.Drs. Keith Reemtsma and

Eric Rose of the P&S Dept. of Surgery perform first successful heart transplant in a child. (pictured right)

1997.Merger of New York Hospital with

Presbyterian Hospital to form New York-Presbyterian Hospital, one hospital affiliated with two Ivy League schools, Columbia University College of P&S and Weill Cornell Medical College.

2000.P&S Professor Eric Kandel

wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the molecular basis of memory. (pictured below) 2004.P&S Professor

Richard Axel is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in determining the genes that govern the sense of smell. (pictured above)

2009. New York- Presbyterian

Hospital is ranked #1 in NYC Metro Area and #6 in the nation in US News’ America’s Best Hospitals.

Leading the way for over 240 yearsP&S

Columbia University began as King’s College, which in 1770 became the first in the North America Colonies to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

StudentS At P&S hAil froM throuGhout the united StAteS and the world. The entering class of 2008 came from 34 states, representing 63 colleges, and from 5 foreign countries. They ranged in age from 20-34 years; half were female; and 21 percent were under-represented minorities.

At the beginning of the first year, students at the Columbia University College of Physi-cians & Surgeons participate in the Arnold P. Gold Foundation White Coat Ceremony, an annual rite of passage for doctors-to-be to pledge the Hippocratic Oath in commitment to the compassionate practice of medicine. This event was initiated at P&S in 1993 and since has become tradition at more than 130 schools of medicine and osteopathy throughout the US, at Israel’s four medical schools, and in other countries.

It All Begins with a White Coat.Shaping Medicine’s Future

fundAMentAlS fPre-clinical period shortened from 24 to 18 months fOpportunities for students to teach and learn collaboratively fBasic sciences taught with an orienta-tion towards clinical reasoning and evidence-based medicine fSystems-based exploration of health and disease, integrated with biological, psy-chosocial and population-based concepts fAnatomy with balanced use of dissec-tion, pro-sections, and imaging fLongitudinal, patient-focused develop-ment of clinical and diagnostic skills

MAjor clinicAl YeAr fRequired Core Clerkships reorganized into four 12-week blocks fRotations will be paired by related clerkships promoting interdisciplin-ary learning (e.g., OB/GYN with Pediatrics, Neurology with Psychia-try, etc.) fIntersessions between blocks to explore advanced topics and develop plan for 4th year scholarly project fUnited States Medical Licensing Exam Part 1 (USMLE) taken after Major Clinical Year

electiveS & ScholArlY Project fExpanded to 14 months fFlexible 4th year schedule to accommodate scholarly project and electives fNew Senior Medicine rotation, which consolidates fundamental skills in a medicine service of the student’s choice fScholarly Project: students, paired with mentors, delve deeply into area of interest fIncreased flexibility to explore options for career specialty

coluMbiA bASSett trAcK fApplication pre-entry to medical school fNew track (class entering August 2010) fApplicants interview at P&S and Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY f18-month basic science curriculum at P&S fClinical years at Bassett Hospital fAllows learning medicine in a rural en-vironment and exposure to health care management

More Flexibility, More Opportunity to Focus the new curriculuM iS A fundAMentAl reorGAnizAtion of the way we teach both

basic science and clinical medicine. It combines the principles of basic science, professionalism, and clinical medicine throughout the four-year program in a way that encourages teamwork and innovation. And with increased flexibility in the post-clinical period, students have the opportunity to explore more fully an area of special interest, culminating in a scholarly project.

Foundations Major Clinical Year (MCY) Electives & Selectives

Molecular Mechanisms

Foundations of Clinical Medicine I, II

Anatomy Psych Med I Psych Med II

Body in Health and Disease I

Body in Health and Disease II

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A New Curriculum

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P&S provides a broad array of formal and informal support structures that assist students’ transition into and progression through medical school. Some of the formal programs include:

center for Student wellneSS: Applying Public Health Approaches to Build a Healthy Campus. The Center was founded on the belief that even the most successful and dedicated students oc-casionally can use guidance and support. P&S students may seek out assistance for any concern, big or small. The Center’s staff assists students to develop individu-alized action plans to address concerns or problems. The program is designed to reduce stress; develop and increase coping skills; provide support; and advocate for positive social support systems on campus.

AdviSorY deAn ProGrAM: Structured Academic, Career, and Personal Support

Regularly scheduled group and individual meetings with an Advisory Dean provide opportunities for students to gather to discuss the unique issues that arise dur-ing medical school, such as adjusting to the curricular requirements of each year, developing mentoring relationships, and addressing residency and career plans.

other SuPPortS include: Student Success Network, which offers services to help make first-year students’ medi-cal school adjustment to coursework a smooth one by promoting a sense of teamwork through regular small-group review sessions, facilitated by second-year students. Tutors are also available

free of charge. In the Big Sib program, each incoming first-year student is matched with a second year student who provides initial social, academic and personal guidance. Home Away from Home Program, sponsored by the Alumni Association, matches first-year medical students with P&S alumni in the New York City area, fostering a smooth transition into P&S.

“I am privileged to be a student at P&S, where qualities such as

humor and zest for life do not go unnoticed. I am starting to realize that my education and

experience could not have been obtained anywhere else.”

—Naz Firoz, P&S 2009

Support ServicesStudent

P&S’s shared vision to ease the burden of human disease is local and global, from Washington Heights and neighboring Har-lem to the farthest reaches of our earth. Its partnerships improve medical care and build healthier families around the world.

StudentS coMe to P&S with recordS of reMArKAble Achieve-Ment. Their achievements continue during medical school. In 2008, 85 percent of students conducted research with a faculty mentor, and 33 percent received fellow-ships from the Doris Duke Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and other prestigious research programs. One in four students took an extra year to pur-sue research goals, and 11 percent earned additional degrees, such as an M.P.H., M.B.A., or Ph.D.

Approximately half of all P&S students take an elective abroad, half of which are done in a developing country. A variety of international electives are available to students during the summer between first and second years and during fourth year. P&S has established international exchange programs with 28 international medical schools. The International Family AIDS Program provides clinical and public health electives in the Dominican Republic,

South Africa and Russia. The International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Pro-grams provides non-clinical public health experiences in Ethiopia and Tanzania. The Millennium Villages Project provides non-clinical public health experiences in a rural village setting of an underdeveloped country that lacks basic health and disease preven-tion infrastructure. The Ben Gurion Univer-sity in the Negev provides clinical electives in a variety of international settings.

Global health electives are also avail-able in New York and include rotations in urban medicine and immigrant health.

ResearchOpportunities at P&S

International Electives

the MoSt coMPrehenSive Student ActivitieS orGAnizAtion in AMericAn MedicAl educAtion. The P&S Club was founded by Nobel Peace Laureate John Mott in 1894. The P&S Club sponsors over 50 extra-curricular groups, adding substantial depth to a program otherwise devoted to scientific and clinical disciplines.

The P&S Club“P&S looks for a cultural breadth that

goes beyond medicine. Medicine is a humanistic field and a matter of relating

to other people. Having other interests makes medical students better doctors.”

—Dr. Andrew Frantz, Dean for Admissions

More thAn 1,000 StudentS reSide in MedicAl center AccoMModAtionS, a practical and cost-effective way to live in Manhat-tan. Students who live on campus have the opportunity to take advantage of the resources that Columbia University, Washington Heights, and New York City have to offer.

Housing, Recreation, Comfortable Campus Living

CampusLife

P&S StudentS Are encourAGed to learn about the culture, history, poli-tics, resources and needs of the vibrant communities of Washington Heights and Harlem by visiting historical sites and major institutions, getting acquainted with community members, dining and enjoying night life in the neighborhood, and partici-pating in community cultural events. Both neighborhoods have undergone economic revitalization, resulting in a safe and clean urban environment with a rich cultural fabric that will enhance life at P&S.

“Many of us came to P&S because of its location in New York City and

the Washington Heights commu-nity. Ultimately, we hope to become

members of communities working together as partners in health care.”

—Lauren Taggart Wasson, P&S ‘09

Washington HeightsCommunity

The Match&

“the MAtch” referS to the dAY in MArch when fourth-year stu-dents learn which residency training program they’ll be attending. More than 97 percent of P&S students match at hospitals with major univer-sity affiliations. In 2008, 44 percent of graduates matched at programs in New York State (mostly New York City, including 30 percent who matched at Columbia for all or part of their postgraduate training).

GrAduAtion froM P&S occurS in MAY, when the Hippocratic Oath is again recited. This brings to closure the journey that began during the first-year White Coat Ceremony and ritualizes the launch of each graduate’s new career in medicine. Graduating students, their children (six babies were born to members of the class of 2008), family members, friends, and faculty gather together to award diplomas and give special recognition to students and outstanding teachers. A celebratory reception follows the graduation ceremony.

Graduation

Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons

columbia P&S Admissions office 630 W. 168th Street, Room 1-416, New York, NY 10032Phone: (212) 305-3595 Email: psadmissions@columbia.eduFor detailed information visit http://cumc.columbia.edu/dept/ps