Launching a transformative medical school curriculum is no small task – but with the able leadership of Drs. Carol Storey-Johnson ’77 and Barbara Hempstead, working alongside Dean Glimcher and countless faculty members and students, Weill Cornell is positioned to lead the way in medical education for many years to come. After more than 13 years as the Senior Associate Dean for Education, Dr. Storey-Johnson was recently appointed Senior Advisor for Medical Education. As she steps into this new role in January, Dr. Barbara Hempstead, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity and the O. Wayne Isom Professor of Medicine, will take the reins. Together, the two physicians’ experience and dedication have helped to shape the new curriculum – an essential piece of the Campaign for Education.
Drs. Storey-Johnson and Hempstead recently sat down with Larry Schafer, Vice Provost for External Affairs, to speak about the new curriculum, how we are shaping the healthcare leaders of tomorrow and the importance of supporting medical education.
LS: Thanks to both of you for all that you have done to design and roll out the new curriculum. For some context, can you tell me about what the typical curriculum was like when you were in medical school?
CSJ: In the first two years we were in class, mainly lectures, from 8:30-5:00 every day, including some Saturday mornings. Every night we studied, took notes and synthesized information to prepare for our exams. That’s actually one of the great skills that physicians have – to assimilate a lot of information quickly and do something important with it.
BH: We were taught by immersion – we went to an almost inordinate number of lectures and then we had to synthesize on our own. There were a lot of redundancies and we didn’t learn until later in our training how to really think like a physician. Many of the most important aspects that you need to learn to become a physician – like doctor-patient interactions, physician communication skills, ethics and decision-making – were not specifically taught. You had to learn on the fly. Now, we are trying to integrate that skillset from day one.
LS: What are some of the challenges you have faced with this new curriculum?
CSJ: This curriculum is very different from our prior one because it integrates clinical skills and science in a much tighter fashion. But, to do that, you sacrifice time for what had traditionally been allotted exclusively to basic science. That’s hard for some of our faculty members who have been through the traditional medical school curriculum to envision. But, we are fortunate to have expert faculty on board who will serve as role models for the kind of critical and integrative thinking that we’re trying to teach our students.
BH: We are trying to teach students to think like academic clinicians from day one. If you consider how a leader in a clinical fi eld sees a patient, makes a diagnosis, understands the basic biology behind that individual’s disease, enrolls that patient in a clinical trial and talks with the family about the implications of these decisions, that’s all in one head! (laughs) We used to teach these skills in different units. I think that our medical students aren’t going to have much difficulty with the change. They are unbelievably bright and gifted individuals. It will take time to help faculty embrace this new approach because they are used to teaching discrete “pods” of information.
LS: So, why do you think launching this new curriculum is important at this time?
BH: It’s never been a more exciting time in medicine – we need this new generation of physicians more than we ever have before. We need doctors who ask the right questions; we need academic physicians to be able to take the amazing explosion in scientific knowledge and translate it to the bedside; we’ve never had a greater need and we’ve never had a greater opportunity. This curriculum has the ability to impart this excitement to our students and faculty.
LS: It sounds like you’re feeling positive about the curriculum?
CSJ: Very positive. I think that many of us wish that we had had this kind of educational experience when we were in med school!
LS: There are a lot of people who can say that this curriculum was their ‘baby,’ but Dr. Storey-Johnson, you must really feel like this was your ‘baby.’
CSJ: This was absolutely my baby. But, when I say it’s my baby, it’s not all about me. I had the great privilege to lead a huge faculty effort, so the faculty owns this, too. It’s their curriculum and their ideas. But, yes, it feels like my baby. And, now I’m going to help take care of my baby. (smiles)
LS: As you know, we call this column “What Inspires Giving” – and the two of you have clearly been inspired to give so much of your time and dedication to medical education. Why do you think it is important for people to support medical education?
CSJ: Well, education is certainly a wonderful investment. It’s something that, as with any investment, gives back over time. You get back more than what you actually put into it. Because when you invest in someone’s education, they go out and they teach 10 people, and they cause excellence to happen in another 25.
BH: There are two aspects in terms of support – Carol and I were able to graduate from medical school without huge amounts of debt. Being able to walk out of a medical education without being burdened by substantial debt is an unbelievable gift, because it allows you to do what you really want to do and not be encumbered by having to make decisions that are more financial in nature rather than aspirational.
The other area is investing in faculty support. Our faculty members are excellent clinicians and fantastic scientists. And, if we really want them to be world-class teachers, we have to give them time away from the other roles that they play so that they can focus on teaching and being the best educators that they can be.
