University of Miami (Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine)

Serving more than five million people as the only academic medical center in South Florida, the University of Miami School of Medicine has earned international acclaim for research, clinical care, and biomedical innovations. Founded in 1952 as Florida’s first accredited medical school, the University of Miami provides the medical staff for the nationally renowned University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is proud to serve Miami, South Florida, South America, and the Caribbean in education, research, patient care, and community service.

The founders of the Miller School of Medicine were true visionaries. They anticipated the tremendous need for excellent medical care within our community and set into motion a plan for the facility that now treats more than 1,000,000 patients annually.

MISSION STATEMENT:
* To provide excellence in medical education.
* To expand medical knowledge through research.
* To provide high-quality care to those who need it.
* To be a community partner.

In 2004, U.S. News & World Report listed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as the number one hospital in the country for ophthalmology. Seven additional UM School of Medicine specialties were also listed among the nation’s best: kidney disease; hormonal disorders; ear, nose and throat; geriatrics; digestive disorders; neurology and neurosurgery; and urology.

Each year the medical school’s 700 faculty physicians have more than a million patient encounters, in primary care and more than 30 specialties. In addition to Jackson, UM clinical facilities are located at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center, five primary care centers throughout Miami-Dade County, and a half-dozen area hospitals. The School of Medicine has a total of 6,000 employees.

Research is a top priority, with more than 1,300 ongoing projects funded by $196 million in external grants and contracts to UM faculty. The school ranks in the top third among U.S. medical schools in terms of research funding awarded. The School of Medicine campus consists of 35 acres within the 80-acre complex of the UM/ Jackson Memorial Medical Center, including 1.9 million square feet of research space, and is the home of the following acclaimed medical facilities:

* Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is one of the top two facilities in the country for ophthalmic clinical care and research. The Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital annually serves 160,000 outpatients of ophthalmology and other specialties, largely for microsurgery procedures.

* For its pioneering work in islet cell transplantation, the Diabetes Research Institute joined the National Institutes of Health and the Naval Medical Research Center as the only academic partner in the national initiative to cure diabetes through transplantation.

* The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center treated 2,900 newly diagnosed cancer patients during 2003, performed chemotherapy on more than 9,800 patients and radiation therapy on more than 4,400 patients from throughout the United States and Latin America. Approximately 150 clinical trials are under way, supported by more than $31 million in research grants.

* Dedicated to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury, researchers at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis found the first direct evidence of successful regeneration of adult human central nervous system tissue. The Miami Project conducts basic and clinical research trials, as well as a program that permits spinal cord injured men to father children.

* The University of Miami Ear Institute houses the nation’s second most active cochlear implant program, restoring hearing to adults and children with profound deafness.

* The nationally renowned research efforts of the Department of Pediatrics are housed in the magnificent new Batchelor Children’s Research Institute. The School of Medicine’s Mailman Center for Child Development has a number of model programs that help children with developmental disabilities.

* The UM/Jackson Transplant Program is one of the nation’s best and busiest, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. UM/ Jackson has an active transplant program for bone marrow, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and intestines.

* Significant federal funds support research at the Comprehensive AIDS Program, including HIV studies in pregnant women, pediatric AIDS clinical trials, various drug protocol studies, heterosexual transmission of AIDS, transfusion safety studies, and the national cooperative drug discovery group.

* The Center on Aging, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for older people, conducts significant research on geriatric issues.

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine offers two separate and distinct educational tracks to the MD degree. One track is based at the Miami campus at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Center in Miami, Florida. The other track is based at the UMMSM regional medical campus at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida, which is 45 miles north of the Miami campus.

The regional campus is supported by the State of Florida and is fully accredited under the accreditation granted to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). It is a unique collaborative effort between an established, nationally recognized private medical school and a large public university that is part of the State of Florida University System. FAU has more than 25,000 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in a variety of programs, including high-tech biomedical programs supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and private industry. FAU and the world-renowned Scripps Institute have recently formed a partnership to explore common research interests and establish cooperative research ventures.

The Educational Mission Statement of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at both campuses is: To provide our students with a learner-centered, humane and contemporary curriculum that prepares our graduates to pursue successful careers in clinical care, biomedical research and community service in the 21st Century.

The goals of the medical curriculum at the Miller School of Medicine in both Miami and in Boca Raton are to provide all graduates with:

* A broad knowledge of the biomedical and behavioral sciences appropriate for all physicians
* Competence in clinical skills to include eliciting a medical history, performing a physical examination, performing basic technical procedures, and practicing preventive medicine
* The ability to apply knowledge and skills effectively in the daily practice of medicine, as evidenced by the ability to formulate an accurate problem list, an appropriate set of competing hypotheses to explain the problems, and diagnostic and therapeutic plans
* Training in the scientific method and the opportunity and encouragement to participate in research
* The ability to be an effective life-long learner and to conduct critical analyses of new knowledge
* Knowledge and skills in the use of information technology to manage information optimally in order to meet the clinical, research, and educational demands of the future
* The highest ethical standards
* The ability to communicate effectively and humanely with patients, colleagues, and others
* An understanding of the role and responsibilities of the physician in the health care delivery system and society.

The curriculum has been developed and is continually being improved using the following three guiding principles:

1. Integrate teaching of the health sciences
The UMMSM curriculum integrates courses and learning at three levels: a) integrate the basic sciences; b) integrate the basic sciences and clinical sciences; and c) integrate the study of normal structure and function with the study of abnormal, disordered structure and function

2. Incorporate modern educational methodologies
In the traditional medical curriculum, the first two years of medical school usually rely on large lecture-based classes, a learning methodology which does not meet many of the educational and evaluation needs of students and faculty. The UMMSM curriculum addresses these limitations by:
* Decreasing lecture time
* Implementing small group learning opportunities using
clinical cases with explicit learning objectives
* Promoting contextual learning where basic science
concepts are given clinical relevance by being
introduced and assimilated in the context of common
diseases
* Evaluating students in important professional
qualities, attitudes, and behaviors in addition to
knowledge acquisition
* Implementing competency-based learning and
evaluation in some courses especially the
longitudinal themes comprising the Doctoring
Program
* Supporting the role of technology in the educational
process, including web-based resources and
distance-learning facilities to assist students,
faculty, and administrators
* Facilitating formal, systematic faculty development
opportunities and regular peer review of faculty
teaching

3. Incorporating new content and experiences
Physicians practicing in todays health care system must have skills and knowledge not found in the traditional medical curriculum. The UMMSM curriculum incorporates non-traditional material in the longitudinal themes of the Doctoring Program. Some examples of these new content areas are: professionalism, medical humanities, community and population medicine, public health, health care delivery systems, quality improvement and outcomes assessment, medical errors and safety, working with underserved populations, international health, physician teams and leadership, and complementary and alternative medicine

An over-arching longitudinal theme throughout all four years of the curriculum is the acquisition and refinement of clinical skills through expert teaching and patient interactions. This starts in the first weeks of the first year when students begin the Clinical Skills Program and start developing their clinical skills under the personal tutelage of a faculty physician, either in a private office setting or in a hospital. The Clinical Skills Program lasts for two years and over 170 clinical sites are available to students on the medical campus and throughout the metropolitan area. Six hospitals and more than 40 specialty clinics containing nearly 3,000 teaching beds are located on the medical campus and provide unparalleled opportunities for clinical training in the third and fourth years. In fact, the UM-Jackson Memorial Hospital Medical Center is the second busiest medical center in the United States with nearly 60,000 admissions, 12,000 surgeries, 7,000 deliveries, 102,000 emergency cases, and more than 500,000 adult outpatient visits per year.

Given the rapidly increasing importance of computers and technology in medicine, students are required to have access to a computer and to the Internet. To facilitate this, the Glaser Student Computer laboratory is open 24/7 and Internet access via wireless technology is available throughout the medical campus.

Each of the medical students at the Miami campus is a member of an Academic Society. There are twelve Academic Societies and they play unique roles in the curriculum by emphasizing cooperation in the learning process, fostering leadership, and by providing a collegial environment in which faculty and more advanced students mentor newer students in the basic sciences, the art of medicine, medical decision-making, and the acquisition of diagnostic skills through patient interactions. The mentoring process is four years long, extending from the first days of medical school right through the residency application and matching process in the fourth year.

---

Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine Medical School Location

Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine Courses

FIRST AND SECOND YEARS

The first two years of the curriculum has three sequential blocks: 1) Core Principles of the Biomedical Sciences (23 weeks), 2) Integrated Organ System Modules (47 weeks), and 3) a Transition Block (5 weeks). A competency assessment week is the final week at the end of the first year and again at the end of the second year curriculum.

CORE MODULES
The first year begins with the Core Principles of the Biomedical Sciences. The goal of the Core is to introduce the fundamental principles and vocabulary for each of the sciences basic to the practice of medicine. This is not the entire course time for these scientific disciplines as each discipline has an important role in the integrated organ systems modules. The discipline coordinator for each of the basic sciences in the Core have worked with faculty to integrate the core concepts in their organ modules.

COURSES :

* Molecular Basis of Life (cell biology, medical genetics,
Biochemistry)
* Host Defenses and Pathogens (immunology and
Microbiology)
* Human structure and Adaptation to Disease (embryology, Histology, gross anatomy, introduction to pathology)
* Cellular Function and Regulation (cellular biophysics
And introduction to pharmacology)

INTEGRATED ORGAN SYSTEMS MODULES
The second half of the first year and the first half of the second year are organized into integrated organ systems and modules. The organ system modules feature integrated teaching of basic molecular, cellular, and organ systems processes in conjunction with mechanisms of disease. Sophisticated scientific information is introduced in a clinical context, illustrating its clinical relevance, and enhancing the students learning. Each module begins with a brief review of micro and gross structure and progresses through physiology, pathophysiology, radiology, pathology, and pharmacology of disorders of the subject organ system. The learning methodologies include group discussions, demonstrations, workshops, self-study, and lectures. These modules collectively last for a total of 47 weeks.

COURSES :

* Neuroscience and Behavioral Sciences
* Cardiovascular system
* Epidemiology
* Respiratory System
* Renal System
* Ophthalmology and Dermatology
* Gastroenterology and Nutrition
* Hematology and Oncology
* Endocrine and Reproductive Systems
* Rheumatology

TRANSITION BLOCK

There are two Problem Based Learning (PBL) blocks. In the PBL blocks, students work in groups of 6-8, with a faculty tutor. The first PBL block occurs in the middle of the second year and is 4 weeks long. Selected cases are presented weekly and are designed to review and re-emphasize important curricular content and to reinforce information gathering and problem-solving skills fundamental to clinical medicine. The other PBL block, the Transition Block, is 5 weeks long and occurs at the end of the second year. The Transition Block is designed to prepare students for advancement to the clinical phase of their training by emphasizing case-based learning, team learning, and diagnostic reasoning. Practice examinations are used during the Transition Block to guide students in their studies and to help prepare for the USMLE Step 1 licensing examination.

COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT WEEKS
At the end of the first and second years, all students must complete a series of competency assessments including standardized patient encounters, critical review by peers and faculty of videotaped patient interactions, written exercises, peer and self-evaluation exercises, and review of an individualized learning plan with a faculty mentor.

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS

The third and fourth years have been merged into a fourth block. Requirements for clinical courses have been modified, allowing students to pursue elective course work as early as the third year, before completing all core clerkships.
The traditional boundary between the third and fourth years is not present in the UMMSM curriculum at Miami. Instead, there are 48 weeks of core clinical clerkships, 20 weeks of required clerkships (with some selectives), and 14 weeks of open electives. A passing score on USMLE Step 1 is required for promotion to the third year. Clinical electives and research may begin before all core clerkships have been completed, according to prerequisites established by course coordinators and the curriculum committee. This allows students to work in clinical services that are traditionally delayed until the fourth year. Core clerkships must be completed by early October of the fourth year so that grades and evaluations are available when transcripts are sent to residency programs on November 1st.

CORE CLERKSHIPS :

* Internal Medicine
* Surgery
* Pediatrics
* Generalist-Primary Care
* OB/GYN
* Family Medicine-Geriatrics
* Psychiatry
* Neurology

The fourth year of the curriculum consists of 34 weeks of clinical rotations and coursework. Students may choose from a variety of ward experiences and consultation services that provide more advanced training in their specific areas of interest. Students may also participate in teaching and research electives. With the consent of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, up to three months may be spent at other medical schools doing clinical externships.

REQUIRED CLERKSHIPS

* Ward Service/Sub-Internship
* Surgery Sub-Internship
* Anesthesiology
* Geriatrics II
* ER/ICU
* Radiology
* Open Electives

Other translation schools in Florida

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine LECOM recognizes students’ unique learning styles by offering four distinct learning pathways at the Erie campus: The traditional Lecture-Discussion P... Address: 5000 Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Bradenton, Florida

Nova Southeastern University (College of Osteopathic Medicine) Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine has been granted accreditation by the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Os... Address: 3200 South University Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

University of Florida (College of Medicine) PRE-CLINICAL YEARS Preclinical course work provides students with essential basic science and general clinical information n... Address: J. Hillis Miller Health Center