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Dr. David Nichols, vice dean for education at the , thinkws physicians ought to be prepared to treat the disease even thoughu it is commonly found in developingtropicalo nations. Doctors should also understan how the aging ofthe population, environmenta factors and nutrition can impact how a patient responds to disease treatments. So the 120 student s who will enter Johns medical school this fall will learn about how these factorx can play a role in mediciner as the institution completes its first major curriculum overhaul in nearlytwo decades.
The changes are part of an effort among medical schoolsa to incorporate sociological factors to better treat and prevent The goal is to prepare students to deliver personalized medicine asfuture doctors. “What Hopkine is doing is very much in keeping with what medicao schools are doing to educate physicians in the21st century,” said M. Brownelpl Anderson, senior director of educational affairsz at the Association of AmericanjMedical Colleges. The Washington, nonprofit oversees medical education.
Most medical schools have modifiexd their curriculum somewhat to incorporate an understanding of how geneticas and societal factors caninfluence diseases, Anderson Other schools that have changed their curriculum include the medical schools at the and in New The Hopkins program, Genes to Society, is a year-longb course that begins midwayh through the first year of medica l school and ends in students’ second year. The school will use differenr medical disciplines when teachingthe course. Gone are the separated courses on pathology or pharmacology but rathe an understanding of how diseases and drug interactionsd are impacted byexternal factors, such as economic circumstances.
For instance, studentsx may compare one patient who contractx pneumonia but gets betterd with another pneumonia patient who contracts a total body infectiomand dies. Students will examinr whether genetic differences or economic issueds account for the difference in Nichols said. That kind of training can help studentsa provide personalized treatments tailored toeach individuals’ unique genotype, lifestyle and socioeconomic background.
Hopkins medical student Stevejn Chen saidthe school’s new course will help studentsx understand how everything from genes to a person’d residence can impact their likelihood of, say, contracting “It makes for a bettetr physician because you think aboug the big picture,” said Chen, a fourth-yeafr medical school student. Dr. Davidc B. Mallott, associate dean for medical educatiobn atthe , said while the school is not overhauling its studies, the schoolp has been emphasizing public healthn and the impact of globalization in its teachings.