100 reasons yale

8/13/2019 100 Reasons Yale

1/43

100REASONS


2/43

100REASONS


3/43

ONE HUNDREDSTUDENTSeach year make Yale themost stimulating placein the world to study

medicine. Each chooses Yalefor a hundred dierentreasons; this book is about

a few of them. Our class size of 100 allowsus to nurture each students own interests,ambitions, and vision of how the art andscience of medicine can contribute to theworld. Whats your reason for choosing Yale?


4/43

4 5

1.MEDICINEAT YALE IS ABOUT

MORETHAN NUMBERS.

The numbers tell us what anoutstanding school we have:number of grants, numberof applicants, number ofawards, number of medicalbreakthroughs. But whatmakes us extraordinary isthat we never lose sightof the whole person behindthe numberswhether

that person is the patient,the doctor, or the student.Robert J. Alpern, M.D.Dean and Ensign Professor of Medicine


5/43

6 7

2.The Yale

SYSTEMMore than 80 years ago, the Yale School

of Medicine embarked on a new approachto education, based on the premise that

the medical student is a mature individual,as a 1928 Curriculum Committee put it.Highly motivated and self-directed, studentswere to take an active role in acquiring notjust a set of facts but habits of inquiry and acapacity for critical thinking that would lasta lifetime. This approach was so distinctivethat it became known as the Yale System.

The Yale System has endured throughmyriad changes in biomedical knowledge,the nature of clinical practice, and technol-ogy, but it retains its reliance on studentinitiative, its emphasis on scientific investi-gation, its respect for individuality, andits encouragement of cooperation rather

than competition.

What does all this mean in practice?

> EveryM.D.student must complete a thesisthat represents a substantial body of originalresearch. The thesis project teaches students towield the tools of scientific investigation andplaces students in close, collegial contact withfaculty from day one.

> In the first two years, students track their ownprogress through optional self-assessment testsmidway through each course and mandatoryfinal examinations called qualifiers. The grades

on these tests are known only

to the individual student, andthere are no grade point aver-ages or class ranking. The rarestudent who fails to achievemastery has many options forassistance in getting up to speed.

> Class attendance at lectures is not recorded,and students are expected to make responsibledecisions about the best use of their time.

> Students are encouraged to explore their owninterests in medicine and advance at theirown pace within the Yale curriculum. Abouthalf complete the M.D.program in four years,and half take an optional, tuition-free fifthyear to pursue additional clinical electives,thesis-related research, or international medicalexperiences. Several students each year pursue

dual-degree programs with other Yale schoolsand departments.

The Yale System embodies the schoolscommitment to educating leaders who willadvance the science and practice of medi-cine. Such leadership requires the abilityto think critically and creatively, to workcollaboratively with others, and to takeresponsibility for lifelong learning. Judgingby both the satisfaction of our currentstudents and the extraordinary success ofour graduates, the system works.

Since it wasinstituted in the

1920s, theYale System hasfostered a collegialeducationalenvironment thatproduces leadersin medicine.


6/43

8 9

3.ANATOMYCLASSYale has turned anatomy on its head.Traditional anatomy courses begin withcomprehensive lectures, overly detailed dis-

sections and long nights memorizing terms.It all seems rather abstract until studentssee patients. So why not start with the patients?Thats what course director Lawrence J.Rizzolo, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomyand experimental surgery, asked himself.He redesigned the course and made Yale thefirst medical school to teach anatomy usinga surgical case model. Students begin thecourse by performing actual operations ontheir cadavers under the guidance of facultysurgeons. For example, they learn about thehearts structure by performing heart trans-plants. Hands-on learning is supplemented

with lectures, study groups,and a wealth of web-basedresources. Outcome meas-ures show that students areretaining more informationunder the new model.

Rizzolo and his colleagues have pub-lished on this unique approach and fieldinquiries from other medical schoolsthat would like to explore it. The sum ofmedical knowledge increases rapidly, butthe time students spend in medical schoolis a constant. More ecient ways to learn

are essential. The case-based approachdoes not only teach basic anatomy moreeectively; students are simultaneouslypracticing clinical reasoning skills, gainingexperience reading images, and negotiat-ing the complexities of working in teams.Experience with the cadavers is also an earlyand important opportunity for studentsto address the issues of death and dyingthat theyll confront throughout theircareers. The course culminates in a Serviceof Gratitude for the cadaver donors,who, through a final ac t of generosi ty,became great teachers themselves.

4.GET TO KNOW

YOUR NEWCLASSMATESIN THE GREATOUTDOORS...

The Medical OutdoorOrientation Trip is afour-day hike on theAppalachian Trailjust before first-yearregistration.

5....OR IN

SERVICE TOYOUR NEW

HOMETOWN

A four-day orientation tothe City of New Haven,community service, andfellow first-years, S.A.Y.(Service at Yale) NewHaven sends crewsof volunteers to a varietyof organizations, fromHabitat for Humanityto Student Sight Savers,a glaucoma screeningproject at Yale-NewHaven Hospital.

6.LESSONS FROM

PATIENTS

At Yale, bedside manner is not an add- on to physiciantraining but an integral part of the concept of patients as

whole people. From the very beginning, a Yale medical

education reminds students not to lose sight of the wholepatient. In one first-year exercise, students are asked tointerview a family member about a medical event and thento think about the psychosocial factors that came into play.

At the end of the surgical clerkship, students must interviewpatients after surgery to gain a complete understandingof the experience. Classes build in discus-sions not just with medical experts but

with nurses, social workers, and chaplains.This distinctively Yale approach to medicaltraining makes our graduates better, moreobservant, more eective doctors.

Anatomy studentsconsult coursematerials onlineduring a dissection.Yale uses a surgicalcase model toteach anatomy.

Before working inclinical settings,students practicetheir history-takingskills in a coursethat employsactors to play therole of patient.


7/43

10 11

7.SIZEMATTERSWith only 100 studentsin a class, every student isan individual. Theres not

just one model of success.Students are encouragedto be themselves, and tofind out who they wantto be in the future.Nancy Angoff, M.D., M.P.H.Associate Dean for Student Affairs

Students have theopportunity bothto listen and discusstheir ideas duringlectures and smallgroup discussions,such as this class inglobal health.


8/43

12 13

8.THEWORLDWhen you study medicine at Yale, NewHaven is a gateway to the world. You dontwalk through that gateway alone. The Oceof International Medical Student Education

oversees an integrated global health cur-riculum that runs throughout your time inmedical school. Like the rest of your Yalemedical education, the study of global healthissues is deliberately planned to keep the focuson both patients and doctors as whole people.

First year.A year-long elective on thesocial, political, and economic determinants

of global health presents lectures onsubjects ranging from maternal mortal-ity to the political uses of psychiatry. Thecourse is codirected by students and meetsbiweekly over dinner. Another elective,Introduction to Research Methods inGlobal Health, focuses on field-basedresearch in low-resource countries. Thisworkshop is particularly re levant forstudents who are planning to apply forDowns Fellowships (see #9), which fundsummer research projects abroad.

First summer. First-year students mayapply for Downs Fellowships to conduct

research abroad during the followingsummer. Many of the projects becomethe basis for the thesis.

Second year. Throughoutyour second year at Yale,you participate in a coursecalled The Modules, study-ing mechanisms of disease

in 13 organs or systems. Included is discus-

sion of illnesses that you would not findin New Haven. Students may also chooseclinically oriented elective courses in tropicalmedicine, pediatrics, and mental health.

Third year. During their clinical clerkships,you will encounter patients whose paths toNew Haven began in many varied parts ofthe world. The New Haven area is a diverseenough community that students cangain exposure to a panoply of global healthissues without leaving the city.

Fourth and fifth years. Clinical electivesin Argentina, China, England, Peru, SouthAfrica, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia takestudents out of their comfort zone and putthem into one of the most intense and

thought-provoking experiences I have hadin years, as one student put it. The inter-national clinical electives are no vacation:attending physicians from Yale run many ofthe programs in resource-poor and highlystressed situations. The Internal Medicinerotation at Mulago Hospital in Uganda, forexample, confronts students with the sickestpatientsabout half of whom are infectedwith HIVin a country with an annual percapita income of $280. Robert Rohrbaugh,M.D., who heads the Oce of InternationalMedical Student Education, lists some benefitsfor students: Theyll be able to practice what

theyve learned at Yale in dierent settings.

Theyll be seeing patients with dierentpresentations of illness. Theyll develop anawareness of the social and political factors inhealth and disease. They learn a basic culturalcompetency. Most students receive financialsupport for travel and living expenses associ-ated with international clinical electives.

Each year, the Wilbur

Downs InternationalHealth Student TravelFellowship supports 15to 20 Yale students whoundertake a summer ofhealth-related researchprimarily in low- andmiddle-income countries.Downs Fellows carry outresearch in the contextof their host countriesculture, health problems,and resources, with theintellectual support andpractical assistanceof Yale faculty members.Students also havehost-country sponsors

who serve as mentors

during their time abroad.Downs Fellows presenttheir research findingsand experiences ata fall symposium andposter session. Manyfellows further developtheir studies into athesis or dissertation.Recent researchsubjects have includedcircumcision and HIVprevention in Peru, leadexposure among childrenin Uganda, patient educa-tion about HIVin Vietnam,and emergency contra-ception in South Africa.

9.DOWNS

FELLOWSHIPS

Visiting students fromYale talk with thefamilies of patients,left, and explore thearea surroundingMakarere Universityin Kampala.

A Russian physicianworking with Yaleresidents andmedical studentslooks over an X-raywhile on rounds atMulago Hospital inKampala, Uganda,in 2007.


9/43

14 15

10.HAVEN

FREE CLINICIn the spring of 2004,Yale students in medicine,public health, nursing, andthe Physician AssociateProgram conceived of a freeclinic to serve the neediest people of theircity. By November 2005, the students hadfound space and financial backing, enlistedvolunteer attending physicians from the Yalefaculty, arranged for referrals to Yale-NewHaven Hospital, established links to socialand educational services, scheduled bilingualstudent translators (mostly in Spanish, thelanguage spoken by 85 percent of the clinicspatients), and opened the doors of HAVEN,

New Havens first stationary free clinic for theuninsured. Today, HAVENwhich stands forHealth, Advocacy, Volunteerism, Education,Neighborhoodis open every Saturdaymorning year round and helps hundredsof patients in the course of the year. Somestudents do their Primary Care Clerkshipby volunteering at HAVEN; many more workthere on an occasional basis. Because appoint-ments normally last at least an hournotthe usual 10 or 15 minutes allotted in standardpractice settingsstudents as well as patientshave an exceptional experience not oftenavailable in todays medical practices.

11.HUNGERAND

HOMELESSNESS

AUCTION

If youd like your medical school experience

to include lessons in sushi making, bellydancing, or being a Southern gentleman,mark your calendar for the Hunger andHomelessness Auction. Yale health profes-sions students organize a massive annualauction to benefit local programs that servehungry or homeless people. Massive isthe operative word for the enterprise thatnets as much as $30,000 for New Havenorganizations annually. Lessons are acommon auction item, as are homemadeculinary treats. Popular faculty take highbidders out to dinner and an eveningof theater. More conventional oerings

have included a week in a

London flat and a vintageEpiphone guitar.

The auction itself is thehighlight of a year-roundprocess where students raise awarenessabout the social and economic needs ofNew Havens diverse population. A studentcommittee reviews grant applicationsfrom local non-profits to decide exactly howthe auction proceeds will be put to workhelping New Haveners. And while hungerand homelessness remain dicult problemsto solve, organizers hope theyre challengesthat, one day, will be going, going, gone.

The annual student-run auction raisessome $30,000 forservice organiza-tions serving thehomeless andothers in need.

Students volunteer-ing at HAVENprovide care free ofcharge to residentsof New Havenwho lack healthinsurance.


10/43

16 17

12.FROM

BENCHTO

BEDSIDEProfessor Linda Mayes, M.D., at the ChildStudy Center has been studying theproblems of mothers with substance abuse

disorders in forming emotional attachmentsto infants and toddlers. When she wantedto study the neural circuitry of parentalattachment in these cases, she beganthe project under the auspices of the YaleCenter for Clinical Investigation. Herproject meets all the aims of the center:it is innovative and important, it takes aninterdisciplinary approach to a disease,

it has clear implications for therapeuticinterventions, and it has clear applicationsin the New Haven community. Clinical research is a crucial part of thetranslational process, and Yale has createda comprehensive infrastructure to supportthe movement of scientific discoveries

from bench to bedside. Clinical trialsthat is, research with humansarecomplicated by the inescapable fact thatyou cannot control people the way youcontrol laboratory specimens. The YaleCenter for Clinical Investigation bringstogether the tools and sta needed tosupport clinical trials across the medical

campus: expertise in areas from regulatoryissues to biostatistical analysis, nursingand laboratory services, inpatient and out-patient facilities, and community outreachspecialists, to name a few.

YCCItakes its charge a step further,from bedside to community. Centralto the centers mission is an emphasison community-based research and

engagement, with the goalof extending Yale findingsto improve the health ofthe region we are a part of.YCCIs eorts range fromworking with Yale CancerCenter on the creation of a statewide cancernetwork to collaborations with community-

based partners, to advocacy on healthpolicy issues. So far, the focus has been onfive main areas: cancer, obesity, diabetes,heart health, and sexual health.

Crucial to both stages of YCCIs missionis training new generations of researchers inthe theory and techniques of clinical, trans-lational, and community-based research.The Robert Wood Johnson Clinical ScholarsProgramYales is one of only four inthe U.S.trains physicians to think beyond

healing the individual patient to healingthe health care system itself. Researchfellowships are also available to M.D.andM.D./Ph.D.students to support a year-longintensive training core in the YCCI.

YCCIis the infrastructure of Yalesculture of collegiality and creative interac-tion, says Robert Sherwin, M.D., directorof YCCI. By building bridges betweendepartments and highways to core services,by breaking down barriers to collaboration,YCCIexpands the possibilities for teamapproaches to the important health prob-lems facing our nation.

By building bridges betweendepartments and highwaysto core services, by breakingdown barriers to collaboration,YCCIexpands the possibilitiesfor team approaches to theimportant health problemsfacing our nation.Robert Sherwin, M.D., Director of YCCI 13.HEALTH

TEAMSDuring the Vietnam War,men who had served ascorpsmen returned homewith considerable skills.But there was no profes-sional path to put thoseskills to use. Yale was

one of the pioneers ofthe physician associateprofession, admitting itsfirst class of PA studentsin 1971. The programtrained them in traumacare, though today thatrole is much broader.

Maximizing thestrengths of each healthprofession and preparingstudents to practice ina team is a critical partof a Yale medical educa-tion. Some of the bestteachers youll encounterwill surely be fellow

students, and many ofthose will come from thePA Program, Departmentof Epidemiology andPublic Health, or Schoolof Nursing. Youllfind yourself in clinic

alongside Yale studentsstudying to be physicianassociates, midwivesor nurse practitioners.You may do researchwith someone pursuinga public health degree.Health professionsstudents also interactin social groups and inservice projects, such asthe HAVENFree Clinic.You wont just leave Yalewith ideas or theoriesabout interdisciplinarypractice; youll leave withexperience.

Linda Mayes,left, workswith childrenin researchcorrelatingbrain functionand stress.

Medical studentstake classes withstudents in thePhysician AssociateProgram, PublicHealth, Nursing,and the GraduateSchool.


11/43

18 19

14..TranslationalResearchTo make translation work, youneed a way to connect physi-cians and basic scientists, and

that is best done by peoplewith both interests who arewilling to work in the middle.Jordan Pober, M.D., Ph.D.Director of the Human and TranslationalImmunology Program

How long does it take for a great idea in thelabor a major finding that makes it tothe cover ofNatureto make a dierencein the lives of patients?

That depends on the speed of translation. Jordan Pober, m.d., Ph.D., professorof immunobiology, dermatology, andpathology, often points out that, while cur-rent cell biology or genetics texts bear littleresemblance to their mid-1980s predecessors,

many sections of medical textbooks aremuch the same as students found them twodecades ago. Pober was acutely aware of this knowl-edge gap early on, and in 2000 he foundedthe Interdepartmental Program in VascularBiology and Transplantation (vbt), oneof the nations first research programsexplicitly focused on translational research.Ten years on,vbt(now Vascular Biologyand Therapeutics) is a vibrant program thatincludes 35 faculty members, drawn equallyfrom basic science and clinical departments.Its a rich area of science at Yale, and one that

matches dozens of Yale medical studentswith faculty mentors for thesis research.

One of the original goals of thevbtprogram was to improve outcomes fororgan-transplant patients by building on

basic research. But in the eyes of Pober,translation is a two-way street: intimateknowledge of the biology of disease gainedin the clinic must guide the future direc-tion of basic biomedical research if theinsights from laboratory experiments areto be speedily applied to clinical medicine.The example set byvbt, now headed byProfessor of Pharmacology William C.Sessa, Ph.D., has inspired the creation ofsimilar ventures in other fields. In 2006 the medical school launchedthe Program in Cellular Neuroscience,Neurodegeneration, and Repair (CNNR),

with a focus on Alzheimersdisease, Parkinsons disease,and other neurodegenera-tive conditions. Pober now heads the

program in Human andTranslational Immunology (HTI), which hasresearchers working on human immunologyconnected with clinical researchers in a vari-ety of medical departments. By removingroadblocks to clinical research, Pober, hisHTIcolleagues, and their students hope tosee Yale discoveries turned into treatmentsfor a wide range of diseases, from diabetesand cancer to heart disease and stroke.They are certain to change the course ofscience and medical care. Who knows? Youmight even help rewrite the next editionof that textbook.

1896 Arthur Wright publishesfirst X-ray in the U.S.

1942 First successful clinicaluse of penicillin in the U.S.

1942 First use of chemotherapyas a cancer treatment

1949 First artificialheart pumpprototype(now at theSmithsonian)

1957 Continuous electronic fetal heartmonitoring invented

1960 First newborn intensive care unit

1975 Lyme diseaseidentified at Yale

1978 First insulin pump for diabetes

1980 First transgenicmouse

1997 Discovery of a mechanism ofprotein folding, a step towardunderstanding neurodegenerativeand other diseases

1997 Discovery of the mechanismof innate immunity

2008 Discovery of the first reliable methodfor early detection of autism

1990s/ Discovery of the2000s genes responsible

for responsible forhigh blood pressure,

osteoporosis, dyslexia, maculardegeneration, Tourette syndrome,and Crohns disease

15.BREAKTHROUGHS

Research in theVascular Biologyand Therapeuticsprogram looksclosely at themechanismspresent in thecells lining blood

vessels.

From top: An X-ray made by Yale physicist Arthur Wright in1896; Sewell artificial heart prototype; the Lyme disease vector,Ixodes scapularis(or deer tick); mouse; DNA sequence.

Just a few of Yales medical firsts:


12/43

20 21

16.Yale-New HavenHOSPITAL

The name says a lot: its both an internation-ally renowned university teaching hospitaland a front-line city hospital. That meanson rounds you will encounter patients fromall economic strata, and you cant lose sightof the tremendous societal forces aectinghealth or the great variety of professionalroles you take on with dierent patients.

With almost 1,000beds and 3,200 physicians,

Yale-New Haven servesmore than 54,000 inpatientsand over half a millionoutpatients each year. The hospital includes

Yale-New Haven Childrens Hospital,Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, andSmilow Cancer Hospital. The NationalInstitutes of Health have recognizedthese facilities for the excellence ofthe Cancer Prevention Research Unit,Cancer Information Service Center,

Comprehensive Cancer Service, DigestiveDisease Research Center, Child HealthResearch Center, Clinical Research Center,and Claude D. Pepper Older AmericansIndependence Center. In part because of the emphasison translational research in the School ofMedicine, the schools relationship with

Yale-New Haven Hospital is a particularlycollaborative one when it comes to build-ing clinical programs. Physicians andscientists work closely and respectfully, andmedical students on rotations are encour-aged to participate in deliberations.

17.SECOND

YEARSHOW

Students come to Yaleto study with someof the greatest namesin medicine. But ontwo magical nights in

February, they are clearlyemulating StephenColbert and Weird AlYankovic. The SecondYear Show is a collectionof song parodies andcomedy skits in whichother medical schoolclassesand more oftenfacultyget spoofed.The humor is entirelyaffectionate, if not entirelytasteful. Professors attendthe show and sometimeseven pay for the privilegeof playing themselves onstage. But the organizers

and stars are second-yearstudents. The show is achance for them to havefun and blow off somesteam together before

studying for the boardsand going their separateways to clinical clerkships. The shows traditionstretches back at leastto 1949 with The FourYears for What Follies.Dean Vernon W. Lippardthreatened to cancelit in the 1950s afteran especially PG-13production. Students hadreportedly passed thebedpan to solicit moneyat the show. Today,ticket sales go to supportNew Haven charities.

18.THE NEXT BIG THING INANTIBIOTICSIn 2009, Thomas A. Steitz,Ph.D., won the Nobel Prizein Chemistry for untanglinga mystery. His models ofthe ribosomethe organelleresponsible for manufac-turing proteinslook like many skeins ofbrightly colored yarn, hopelessly knottedand intertwined. The Sterling Professorof Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistryset out to map the ribosome, an enterprise

that involved plotting every twist and turn.It seemed a little like climbing MountEverest. We knew it was doable in prin-ciple, but we did not know if we wouldever get there, he reflected. He led aninterdisciplinary team to that summit andproduced the first map of the ribosomeslarge subunit in 2000. Understanding itsstructure has already led to the develop-ment of a new class of antibiotics, currentlyin clinical trials, that targets bacterialprotein synthesis. The new drugs mayprove eective as a new weapon in thebattle to conquer drug-resistant infections.

Yale-New HavenHospital isConnecticutslargest, with aLevel 1 traumacenter and closeto 1,000 beds.

Thomas Steitzreceived the2009 Nobel Prizein Physiologyor Medicine fromHis Majesty KingCarl XVI Gustafof Sweden.


13/43

22 23

19.CLINICAL

CAREAT YALE

A quarter of a million oce visits each year.Another 129,000 adult and pediatric emer-gency visits. Over 50,000 inpatient stays.

Yale physicians oer advanced care in morethan 160 clinical specialties and subspecial-ties, drawing patients from around the

world. Yale medical students have broadopportunities to learn the art of medicinefrom outstanding doctors working in thefinest of facilities and, even more important,working in multidisciplinary teams toprovide the most seamless, comprehensivecare possible. At the head of this operation is DavidPaige Smith Professor David J. Leell, M.D.,

who serves both as CEOof the Yale MedicalGroup and deputy dean for clinical aairs.He manages to fulfill these functions while

maintaining a busy skin cancer practiceusing the sophisticated Mohs surgerytechniqueand a research agenda as well.

What makes Dr. Leell such a convincingadvocate for clinical excellence is his owncommitment to giving priority to theneeds of his patients. He is working hardto see that vision of medicine instilledin all aspects of physician training at Yale.

AIDS Care ProgramShortly after the Centers forDisease Control first identifiedAIDS in 1981, Yale-New HavenHospital set up the AIDS CareProgram, one of the first in thenation. The program has becomea model for the provision ofintegrated outreach, testing, care,and clinical trials. Today its spanreaches from neighborhoods in NewHaven to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Advanced cardiac careYale is a leader when it comesto assessing the best approaches tocardiac treatment, and its interven-tional cardiology service has one ofthe best door-to-balloon times inthe country. Medical students learn

state-of-the-art care in the catheter-ization lab, which conducts 3,100procedures a year, and on theelectrophysiology service, whichoffers radiofrequency ablation, focalatria and pulmonary vein ablation,trans-septal catheterization, anddefibrillator implantation.

Yale Craniofacial CenterCleft lips and palates are the m ostcommon disfiguring craniofacialanomaliesproblems in the growthof the bones of the head. YalesCraniofacial Center, led by JohnPersing, M.D.,is internationallyrecognized for its advanced, multi-disciplinary approach to craniofacialdeformities, from the most commonto the rarest.

Outpatientparathyroid surgeryCarmalt Professor of Surgery

Robert Udelsman, M.D., M.B.A.,thinks about every surgery heperforms on at least five differentlevels at once. How can he makethis procedure faster and surer?What can students learn from thisprocedure? How can the hospitalbe more efficient? How can webetter manage all aspects of thepatients dealings with the hospital,from parking to scheduling?How does this procedure advanceour scientific understanding?Underlying every one of those ques-tions is his sensitivity to the entireexperience of the patient, andthe future patients of the doctorshe trains.

Medical studentsget hands-onclinical experiencesuch as the rapidcooling procedurefor cardiac patients,aboveas theyrotate throughservices includingmedicine, pediat-rics, and surgery.


14/43

24 25

20.ADVISORSIn a program as individualized as Yales, students needadvisors to make sure they get exactly what they wantand need from their medical education. YSMs mentoringprogram works in many dimensions:

> Each student works with an academic advisor over the four or

five years of medical school, meeting one-on-one and in groupsto discuss their program of study. The advisor writes the studentsdeans letter for residency applications in the final year.

> Advisee groups get together regularly, providing an opportunityfor students at different stages of their education to interact moreclosely and to mentor their peers.

> The program complements other mentoringactivities, in particular the guidance providedby thesis advisors for student research (#44) andby clinical tutors, who work with students in

groups of four during the first two years (#36).

22.HIGH-ENDINSTRUMENTATION

At Yale, you work with the best technologyin the lab and the clinic. Richard Lifton,M.D.,Ph.D., recently took advantage of that

fact with lifesaving results. A 5-month-oldboy couldnt gain weight and was danger-ously dehydrated. His medical team inTurkey asked Lifton, who is chair andSterling Professor of Genetics, to search theinfants DNAfor a marker that would helpthem diagnose the illness. Half a worldaway, Liftons group determined that thebaby had congenital chloride diarrhea,which is manageable with diet and medica-tion. The case, using next-generation DNAsequencing to quickly and completely mapthe infants exome, marked the first timethat a patient has been diagnosed, and

treated, based on a compre-hensive genetic scan. That giant step for medi-cine was made possible by the Yale Centerfor Genome Analysis, uniquely equippedwith 12 Illumina sequencing machines.The machines dramatically accelerate theprocess of gene sequencing and yield resultsthat will be aordable enough to be usedclinically in the not-too-distant future. Thecenter is indispensible to researchers study-ing the genetic basis of disease. Projectsfocusing on multiple sclerosis, autism, andaddiction all rely upon it.

Core research facilities like the Centerfor Genome Analysis provide faculty andstudents throughout Yale with the sophis-ticated technology and expert consultationthey need to advance science.

Other cores include:

Proteomics

Cell, Molecular, MR, and PET Imaging

Cell Sorting/Flow Cytometry

High-Throughput Cell B iology

Small Molecule Screening

Biostatistics & Informatics

The Yale Centerfor GenomeAnalysis is locatedon West Campus.

Students workclosely with facultymembers in plan-ning their studentresearch projectsand in chartingtheir overallprogram of study.

21.RECOGNITION

Yale University faculty areamong the worlds most

accomplished biomedicalscientists and physicians.*

1in NIH research

funding per facultymember

2Nobel Prizes

17Howard HughesMedical Institute

Investigators

60Members of the

National Academyof Sciences

39Members of the

Institute of Medicine

352Active patents for

Yale inventions

45Yale-founded biotechcompanies in greater

New Haven

$557.9million

Total medicalschool researchfunding from...

2,033grants and contracts

*data as of 6/30/10


15/43

26 27

23.EMERGENCYMEDICINEProfessor Gail DOnofrio, m.d., chair of theDepartment of Emergency Medicine andchief of the Emergency Department at Yale-New Haven Hospital, chose her field for the

excitement and satisfaction of saving livesin crisis situations. Yet today she focuses asmuch on preventing emergencies as respond-ing to them. In the Yale tradition, she greetsevery conditionindividual or socialwith aquestion: So many of the injuries we see arethe result of alcohol and drug abuse; will thebrief interventions we have time for in theemergency department make a dierence?

Are women receiving the education they needto avoid heart attacks? Can we change thelives we save into healthier ones? Questionslead to exploration and, often, new solutions. Each year, with the resources of a Level 1trauma center supporting them, Yales

Emergency Medicine faculty handles 100,000adult emergency visits, from patients whomay have anything from a life-threatening

injury to undiagnosed cancer. The specialtyof emergency medicine draws on knowledgeand skills not only across the full spectrumof medical problems but also in public healthareas such as disaster preparedness, epidem-ics, and screening for substance abuse. Asthe point of access to the health care systemfor millions of people, emer-gency departments confrontand help manage a hostof social issues. Emergencymedicine may be the ulti-mate example of thinkingglobally and acting locally.

The EmergencyDepartment atYale-New HavenHospital handles100,000 adultvisits a year and isthe point of entryto the health caresystem for manypatients.


16/43

28 29

26.STEM CELL

PROGRAM

When the federal government limited itssupport for human embryonic stem cellresearch, Connecticut set up a fund tomake sure that investigations here continued and awardedmore than $13 million to Yale. So when President Obamaexpanded federal funding in the spring of 2009, the Yale

Stem Cell Center was in full operation: new core facilitieshad been set up (YSCC)for stem cell culture, imaging, cellsorting and analysis, and genomics; 12 labs at Yale wereinvolved in stem cell research; and about 40 faculty mem-bers throughout the university were aliated with the YSCC.

Director Haifan Lin, Ph.D.whose work was listed byScienceas one of the top 10 breakthroughs of 2006says,

Few other places have been focusing on really understand-ing the inner workings of stem cells. We think we can andbelieve that by doing that we will generate more impactand speed the development of cures. Stem cell research isstill in its infancy. Our center is a new baby that has beenborn, but now we need to feed it and let it grow up.One thing we know is that this baby is full of potential.

25.THE

CADAVERBALL

The Cadaver Ball, whichmarks the end of theanatomy course, is an

annual highlight not justfor first-year studentsbut for faculty andstudents from otherparts of the university.

24.THE

MENTALHEALTHOF CHILDREN

A century ago, Yale established the ChildStudy Center to better understand childrensdevelopment and devise therapies forthe disorders that arise, all based on carefulclinical observations of children. Thatmission has not changed. Many of the toolsthe center has available today, however,

were unimaginable when the center started.Currently, the centers neurogeneticists aresearching the genetic basis of such disorders

as autism, Tourette syndrome, mental retar-dation, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A molecular neurobiology lab is studyingmemory at the level of proteins. A develop-mental neurobiology lab is examining therelationship of genetics and environmentin the development of the brain. Theseand other projects are under way aroundthe corner from the National Center forChildren Exposed to Violence, whichcontinues its pathbreaking collaboration

with the New Haven police. Others includethe Community and School-Based ServicesDepartment, the Intensive In-Home Childand Adolescent Psychiatric Service, and the

Early Childhood Programs Department,which is testing a program of interventionwith teenage mothers calledMinding the Baby. At age100, the Child Study Centerexemplifies the collegial,interdisciplinary, transla-tional, community-mindedapproach of the Yale Schoolof Medicine.

Practitioners at theYale Child StudyCenter conductresearch on autism,anxiety disorders,and child develop-ment, following inthe footsteps ofArnold Gesell, whofounded the centera century ago.

Embryonic stemcells in theintestine of a mouse.


17/43

30 31

27.A CLOSER

BONDWhats so great about theschool is that its based onrelationshipsbetween youand your classmates, youand the faculty, you andthe patients. You grow anddevelop as a person becauseof those relationships. Yalehas been an adventure for me,not just a means to an end.Jason Frangos,Class of 2009

First-year studentsin the Moleculesto Systems coursestudy biologicstructure and func-tion with faculty,some of whomhelped establishthe field of moderncell biology.


18/43

32 33

Match Day is always ajoyful moment at Yale. Ourstudents have a strong

record of residency place-ments in the wide varietyof venues they seek out.Medical school at Yale prepares them forthe nations most competitive residencyprograms, as reflected in the list at right.

Yale graduates continue on to succeed ina diverse array of careers, including all theclinical subspecialties, health care policy,biotechnology, international medicine,and leadership in academic medicine.

Approximately 25 percent of the schoolsalumni hold faculty positions.

Top 15 hospitalsthe Class of 2010are attending forinternship/residency:

Harvard AffiliatedHospitals 35

Brigham andWomens Hospital 16

MassachusettsGeneral Hospital 9

Beth Israel MedicalCenter 5

Harvard LongwoodTraining Program 3

MassachusettsEye & Ear Infirmary 1

Childrens Hospital

of Boston 1

Yale-New HavenHospital 15

University of California,San Francisco 7

Hospital of the Universityof Pennsylvania 5

Memorial Sloan-KetteringCancer Center 5

Stanford UniversityPrograms 4

New York PresbyterianHospital, Columbia 4

Hospital of St. Raphael 4

Johns Hopkins Hospital 3

University of SouthernCalifornia 3

Percent of class attendingthese hospitals 78%

30.MATCH DAY

28.FINANCIAL

AIDMedical education is not cheap, andmedical student debt is a growing nationalproblem. That said, graduates of the Yale

School of Medicine end up with less debt,on average, than graduates of other private

or public medical schools, because of agenerous, need-based financial aid program.The program aims to make it possible forany accepted student to attend the school

without hardship; 80 percent of ourstudents receive financial aid. No financialcontribution is expected from the incomeof parents making less than $100,000 ayear and there is a prorated extension forincome up to $140,000 annually. Our total

unit loanthe amount that a studentmust borrow before becoming eligible forscholarship fundsis among the lowest ofany medical school, and numerous grantsenable all students to take advantage of a

rich array of elective opportunities withouttaking on additional debt.

29.SCHOOL OF

PUBLICHEALTH

Founded in 1915, Yales School of PublicHealth is one of the oldest nationally accred-

ited public health schools in the country.Its also a department within the medicalschool. The school has an extensive faculty

with diverse interests, divided among fiveacademic divisionsBiostatistics, ChronicDisease Epidemiology, EnvironmentalHealth Sciences, Epidemiology ofMicrobial Diseases, and Health Policy and

Administrationand programs in HealthManagement and Social and BehavioralSciences. It also oers a Masters of PublicHealth concentration in Global Health.

Recently, the School of Public Healthbegan to oer the Advanced Professional

M.P.H.Program, providingrigorous public healthtraining to individuals with adoctoral-level degree in a fieldrelated to public health andto medical students who havecompleted their third year. Students generallyspend an intensive summer term and tworegular, full-time academic terms in the pro-gram, which aims to train leaders in the manyfields of public health. The schools longtimeleadership in public health policy and inglobal health initiatives makes it a special assetto students in the School of Medicine.

Public healthstudents conductmosquito researchin the Caribbean, aspart of an ongoingresearch projectdirected by ProfessorDurland Fish.

Yale medicalstudents have anextraordinarytrack record aftergraduation, placing

in the nationstop residencyprograms.


19/43

34 35

33.MD+MBA

Vivek Murthy, m.d./m.b.a. 03, giveshis patients his best: some days, as anacademic hospitalist at Bostons Brigham

and Womens Hospital; others, as a socialentrepreneur changing health care delivery.

Yale prepared him to marry both halvesof his life into a powerful whole. I was able to actually see opportunitymore clearly in the world around me,explained Murthy. I saw opportunities forcreating change, both in the hospital andin the world outside.

He co-founded Doctors for America,a non-profit that engages physicians andmedical students in shaping health carepolicy. The idea came to him during the2008 presidential election while listening

to campaign leaders, with not a physicianamong them, debating competing nationalhealth care reform plans. He also co-founded a social network for scientists,

Epernicus, to connect researchers and facili-tate collaboration. Customized versionsare used by Glaxo-Smith Kline and others.Finally, hes developing systems to increaseeciency and safety in clinical research.

Most m.d./m.b.a.graduates, likeMurthy, remain in clinical medicine, saidProgram Director Howard Forman, m.d.,m.b.a.The five-year curriculum of classes,

internships, and international experiencepositions them to have a strong and imme-diate impact. The experience catalyzesyour career, says Forman, a professor ofdiagnostic radiology and public health.

Students have extended interactionswith health policy leaders, for example,White House Specia l Advisor EzekielEmanuel, m.d., and former Food and DrugCommissioner David Kessler, m.d., also aformer dean of the School of Medicine. ButMurthy was most influenced by his class-mates. I derive a lot of motivation frommeeting other problem solvers, he said.

31.JOINT

DEGREES

In addition to the M.D./Ph.D.program (See #39),

joint degree programsin collaboration withYales other outstandinggraduate and professionalschools are attractiveoptions for many students.

The possibilitiesinclude:

M.D./J.D. Prospectivestudents must applyseparately to the YaleSchool of Medicine andYale Law School forthe six-year M.D./J.D.

joint degree program.

M.D./M.B.A.See #33

M.D./M.DIV.Studentsapply to the six-year jointdegree program with theYale Divinity School fora variety of reasons, froman interest in bioethicsto an intention to conductinternational missionsof healing.

M.D./M.H.S.See #32

M.D./M.P.H.Severalstudents each year enroll

in a five-year programthat gives them a Masterof Public Health degreealong with their M.D.degree. The program isdesigned for studentsinterested in biostatistics,epidemiology, and healthcare management,and other aspects ofpublic health.

32.MD/MHS

PROGRAMIn medical school, Matthew

Vestal, M.D.10, M.H.S.10,learned that one form ofepilepsy may be preventable.The world learned it, too.

Vestal was part of a team

whose research showed thatrats with a predisposition

to absence epilepsy never developed severe seizures if givenanticonvulsant medications early enough. Even after themedications stopped, the rats seizures were greatly reduced.It was the first time any form of epilepsy had been prevented. Vestal graduated with an M.D.and a masters degree inhealth science research. The five-year program features anintensive research experience. The final year is fully fundedthrough fellowships arranged by the Oce of Student Research.

Vestal wanted to bridge the divide between labora-tory research and clinical care. Though children outgrowabsence epilepsy, they are left with a high risk of teen preg-nancy, alcoholism, and other problems. Vestal led humanneuroimaging studies aimed at detecting risk early, whenpreventive treatment is eective. He was the driving force;it was his project, says his faculty mentor, Hal Blumenfeld,M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology, neurobiology, and

neurosurgery. The M.D./M.H.S.program oers access toresources and a wealth of faculty guidance, but studentsdesign their own projects. There is no other place that Iknow of that has this kind of operation, says Blumenfeld. Planning a career in academic medicine, Vestal alreadyhas publications and the experience of writing a successfulmillion-dollar grant with Blumenfeld. His Howard HughesResearch Training Fellowship provided support for himto attend conferences, where he was oftena presenter. He says he was able to capitalizeon the opportunities he found here to get ahead start in academic medicine. The world ofmedicine is full of urgent problems beggingsolutions, and Yale, he says, is your oyster.

Vivek Murthy ata Doctors forAmerica pressconference duringthe health carereform debate.

Matthew Vestal,who matched inneurosurgery atHarvards Brighamand WomensHospital, talksabout his fifth-yearproject with mentorHal Blumenfeld.


20/43

36 37

Dr. Lee knows that members of minor-ity communities often bring particularconcerns and face special challenges along

with the universal demands of profes-

sional training. Since 1988, the Oce ofMulticultural Aairs has provided sup-port for minority students and worked toincrease sensitivity to minority concernsin the medical school as a whole, recogniz-ing that a diverse student body helps traindoctors for the pluralistic world in whichthey will serve. Under Dr. Lees leadership,the oce conducts recruitment, retention,and outreach programs. It provides educa-tional support and serves as a touchstonefor student groups such as the Yale StudentNational Medical Association (twice inrecent years the Chapter of the Year of the

national SNMA), Asian Americans in YaleMedicine, and the Latino Medical Student

Association. The universitys Oce ofLGBTQResources coordinates support for

the campus lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, and queer community.

These groups provide forums fordiscussion, an organizational structure forservice to the school and the New Havencommunity, and academic and social supportprograms for individual students. Otherassociations throughout Yale Universityincluding cultural centers, religiousorganizations, and a wide variety of studentsocietiesoer students a wide networkof contacts and support.

35.DIVERSITYForrester Lee, M.D., a cardiologist and theassociate dean for multicultural aairs,describes telling an African-American patientthat he needed a new heart. And he lookedat me and said, They dont transplant blackpeople, and I looked at him and I said,Youre kidding, do you really believe that?And he did. So it was a very, very joyous dayin my life to walk into his room and say:We have a heart for you today. Believe it.

34.INTER-DISCIPLINARYSTUDIES

Even if you are nota joint degree student,opportunities for inter-disciplinary work aboundboth within the medicalschool and across Yale.A small sample of

the many possibilities:

Advanced ClinicalElective in Law andPsychiatry,in whichfourth-year medicalstudents participatein competency tostand trial evaluationsat the New HavenCorrectional Center.

School of ForestryEnvironment andHealth Initiative.Medical students maytake courses at theSchool of Forestry andEnvironmental Studiesin the environmentalhealth concentration. Thisconcentration encouragescourse work and researchthat explore relationships

among environmentalquality, human health, andpublic policy.

Yales Rudd Centerfor Food Policyand Obesitybringstogether faculty fromArts & Sciences, theLaw School, the School

of Management, and theForestry School as wellas the medical schoolto improve practicesand policies related tonutrition and obesity.Kelly Brownell Ph.D.,

founder and director ofthe Rudd Center, wasnamed one of the 100most influential peoplein the world by TIMEmagazine for his workin the area.

The Health DiplomacyInitiative at Yale isinspired by the vision thathealth can and shouldhave a more prominentrole in international rela-tions and foreign policy.This initiative engagesmedical and public healthscholars alongside socialscientists, economists,legal scholars, andactivists, and draws fromfields such as healthand human rights.

The YaleInterdisciplinaryCenter for Bioethicsattracts scholars fromthe fields of medicine,law, religion, and envi-ronmental studies to lookat issues ranging fromPost-Traumatic StressDisorder to animal rights.

CardiologistForrester Lee is theassociate dean formulticultural affairs.His office provideseducational supportand serves asa touchstone forstudent groupspromoting diversity.


21/43

38 39

38.BREAKTHROUGH

MOLECULARSCIENCE

A basic mystery of bio-chemistry is this: How donewly synthesized proteinsfold into their mature,functional shapes? ArthurL. Horwich, M.D., Sterling Professor of

Genetics and HHMIInvestigator, discovereda molecular machine called the chaperoninthat helps the process along within cells.Recently, his research on chaperonins hasled him to study human neurodegenera-tive disorders such as Lou Gehrigs disease(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), in whichproteins misfold and aggregate. Dr.Horwich uses experimental approachesranging from crystallography to transgenicmodel systems in his eorts to seesomething thats not been seen before.

36.PATIENTSFROM

DAY ONE

37.PTSD RESEARCHAND EXPERTISE IN

NEURO-SCIENCEEmily Dickinson said, The brain is widerthan the sky. The truth of that sayingis more than poetic. The brain is vast and

largely uncharted territory. Yale is full ofexplorers. Yales strength in neurobiology,neuroimaging, genetics, and related fieldsis helping researchers map that territory.Better understanding of brain physiologyand function have resulted in new treat-ments for dyslexia and schizophrenia. It isunraveling the complex factors that contrib-ute to addiction and is pointing to strategiesthat can improve success in recovery.

Today there is particular urgency toincrease understanding of post traumaticstress disorder. Yale psychiatrists have done

work on the disorder since the early 70s,before it even had a name. As veterans from

the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq returnhome, many suering from PTSD, Yaleis expanding clinical care and research tobetter serve them. Yale investigators at theClinical Neuroscience Division of the VANational Center for PTSD, located at the

VA Connecticut Healthcare System campusin West Haven, Conn., have established apartnership with psychiatrists at Fort Drumin upstate New York to study how troopsreact to combat experiences. Meanwhile,clinicians at the VAs West Haven campushave expanded their sta to care for aninflux of veterans needing treatment foranxiety and PTSD.

PTSDrepresents a complex inter-relationship between mind and brain,experience and neurobiology. Under-standing the physiological changes thatunderlie PTSDis leading psychiatrists tonew treatments. Yale researchers havealready identified a gene that increases

susceptibility to PTSDandare in the midst of clinicaltrials of medications theyhope will provide improvedsymptom relief. For John Krystal, M.D.,Robert McNeil Jr. Professorof Translational Researchand chair of Psychiatry, thisis an essential mission. Weare at a critical moment

in the lives of the soldierswho have made sacrificeson behalf of every Americancitizen, he said. We asa country have to decide

whether we are going toreturn the favor by sup-porting our soldiers andrespecting the sacrifices theyhave made by making surethey get the treatment theyneed and by making sure

we can improve the treat-ments we are oering them.

The Departmentof Psychiatry,which pioneeredstudies ofPTSD and otherdisorders, hasexpanded itsclinical servicesfor returningveterans at theVA hospital inWest Haven.

The chaperoninmolecule GroELand co-chaperoninGroES helpproteins foldproperly.

At YSM, you meet yourfirst patient in your secondweek of school. You wont

wait until youve heard ayear or two of lectures ondoctoring before you seea patient, says MargaretBia,M.D., director ofthe Clinical Skills TrainingProgram. Yale medicalstudents take a PreclinicalClerkship, in which theymeet weekly during theirfirst two years, in groupsof four, with their clinicaltutor, who observesthem taking historiesand performing physicalexams. You can imaginehow intense that mentor-ing relationship becomes,

says Bia. Students learncommunication skills, fromsocial-history-taking to

breaking difficult news.They confront standard-ized patientsactorswho play the part ofpatientsas well as realones. By the time theyget to Step 2 of the U.S.Medical Licensing Exam,in which they examine10 standardized patientsin a day and formulatediagnoses and treatmentplans, our students arewell prepared.

Helping a youngpatient at Yale-New HavenHospital (above)


22/43

40 41

39.MEDICALSCIENTISTTRAINING PROGRAM

People hear Yale andthey think its going to be

intimidating. They dontrealize how incrediblyaccessible the faculty is,and how easy it is toget matched with a lab.Cecily Williams, M.D./Ph.D.student

The National Institutes of Health supportsthe training of M.D./Ph.D.students at 40institutions around the country, and the YaleSystem makes this an especially apt placeto pursue such training. The Yale traditionof close interaction between cliniciansand basic scientists and between faculty andstudents means that M.D./Ph.D.studentsexperience collaboration at its best. Yales

flexibility allows students to tailor programsto their individual interests. And becausethe M.D.curriculum already integrates thesisresearch with clinical work, it is conduciveto a joint degree program. Through theMedical Scientist Training Program, M.D./Ph.D.students receive financial support fortuition, living stipends, and health fees untilcompletion of the program.

ChristopherBartley, a studentin the M.D./Ph.D.Program, andneuroscientistAnglique Bordey.


23/43

42 43

41.DISEASE,GENES,

GENOMES

Chair and SterlingProfessor ofGenetics Richard P.

Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.,calls the charting ofthe human genome

one of the greatrevolutions in the

history of medicine, and you can be part ofthe advance teams workingat Yale. The latest genesequencing tools are allow-ing scientists like Dr. Liftonto find rare genetic variantsthat contribute to diseasein ways that were impossiblejust a few years ago.

At Yale School ofMedicine, investiga-tors have identifiedgenetic bases for:HypertensionDr. Liftons genomicanalyses of extreme casesof disease in patientpopulations aroundthe world, which havebecome a model for genehunters, have revealedmore than 15 genes thatare crucial in the regula-tion of blood pressure andthe bodys salt balance.

Crohns diseaseAssociate Professor Judy

Cho, M.D., who madethe first identification ofgenes involved in inflam-matory bowel disease(IBD), recently identifieda gene mutation that canprotect against Crohnsdisease, one form of IBD.Tourette syndromeIn a finding named a topscientific breakthroughby the journal Science,Donald J. Cohen Associ-ate Professor MatthewState, M.D., Ph.D., andAssociate ProfessorNenad Sestan, M.D., Ph.D.,identified the first geneticmutation associatedwith Tourette syndrome.

Macular degenerationIn pioneering whole-

genome associationstudies, Associate Profes-sor Josephine Hoh, Ph.D.,and her colleagues haveidentified genes that raisethe risk of age-relatedmacular degeneration,the leading cause ofblindness in the devel-oped world.

Polycystic kidneydiseaseThe most commonlife-threatening geneticdisorder, PKDcan resultfrom gene mutationsidentified by C.N.H.LongProfessor Stefan Somlo,M.D., under an NIHgrantthat made Yale a Centerfor Excellence in thestudy of the disease.

DyslexiaAssociate ProfessorJeffrey Gruen, M.D.s dis-covery of a gene involvedin dyslexia may make itpossible to screen forindividuals whose reading

ability is impaired and toprovide early educationalinterventions.

IntracranialaneurysmsLarge-scale studies led byneurosurgeon-geneticistMurat Gnel, M.D., andDr. Lifton uncoveredgenetic regions in whichvariants confer a high riskof these deadly malforma-tions of brain vasculature.

Heart disease/metabolic syndromeCardiologist Arya Mani,M.D., and colleaguesdiscovered that oneamino-acid substitutionin a single gene causes arare form of early heartdisease and metabolic

syndrome, providing cluesto the causes of morecommon forms of thesediseases.

Revolutionaries likethese on the front lines ofmolecular genetics makeYale an exhilaratingplace to enter the fray.

40.BIOMEDICALENGINEERING

As a resident inanesthesiology in

the mid-1990s,Laura Niklason,M.D., Ph.D., hadan idea. In theoperating room,she would wit-ness vascular andheart surgeonssearching theirpatients for spare

veins to use as grafts, often finding onlyvessels of very poor quality. Id think, if wecould grow new arteries, then we wouldnthave to harvest them from patients andsubject them to such an invasive procedure.

At the time, researchers were juststarting to understand how to get blood

vessel cells to form microscopic tubes in

a petri dish. In addition to her residency,Niklason was working as a postdoc inRobert Langers lab at MIT. One day shewalked into Langers oce and announced,Im going to grow an artery in the labora-tory. He said, Thats great, Laura. You dothat. It took a while, but in the third yearof her project, Niklason began to makeprogress. She seeded blood vessel cells ontopolymer tubes and pumped a nutrient solu-tion through the tubes. By mimicking thenatural forces that blood generates when itflows through real vessels, she had founda way to produce strong, supple artificial

arteries. Since coming to Yale in 2006 as anassociate professor of biomedical engineer-ing, she has had a chance to develop her

work furth er in animal model s, to createvessels that can be stored for implantationinto any patient at a later date. Her researchhas expanded to include the engineeringof lung tissue.

Biomedical Engineering at Yale, saysdepartment Chair Mark Saltzman, Ph.D.,has two related goals: first, the use ofthe tools and methods of engineering tobetter understand human physiology anddisease; second, the development of newtechnologies for diagnosis, treatment, and

prevention of human disease. Saltzmanhimself has focused on new technologiesfor time-release drug delivery, including amethod for delivering chemotherapeuticdrugs directly to brain tumors. Otherresearchers are developing new methods ofdiagnostic imaging, vaccine and drug deliv-ery, and tissue engineering for applicationsfrom spinal cord repair to liver trans-plantation. We have cell biologists andimmunologists and surgeons and patholo-gists and bioengineers all working togetherin an ideal environment for interdisciplin-ary work, he says. I thinkthats a very rare happeningamong univers ities.

Laura Niklason,above. MarkSaltzman, below.

Zebrafish embryos,an important modelsystem in genetics,are labeledwith green fluores-cent protein inEmbryonic Dance,an artistic renderingby microRNAresearcher AntonioGiraldez.


24/43

44 45

44.THE THESISSince 1839, the Yale School of Medicine has required M.D.students to complete a thesis based on original research.The thesis requirement grew out of the recognition thatthe scientific process of investigation, attentive observation,interpretation of data, and critical evaluation of literatureare as fundamental for a doctor making a diagnosis as foran investigator advancing the frontier of medicine. Thesisprojects also have a hugely beneficial side eect: by the timethey apply for residencies, all students have worked very

closely with at least one member of the faculty, who cantherefore report in convincing detail on the students abili-ties. What makes it work is the faculty-student pairs. Itsa great synergy, said John N. Forrest Jr., M.D., director ofthe Oce of Student Research. The value of the thesis isnot the concept of trying for a scientific career, but to teachthat all physicians are scientists. Students have writtentheir theses on topics including From Mueller to Miller:Determining Standards for Decisions Regarding CriticallyIll Newborns to Mitral Cell Dendritic Development inthe Mouse Main Olfactory Bulb and from Thinking

Outside the Black Box: Current Policiesand Problems with FDAs Highest DrugSafety Warning to The Role of MatrixMetalloproteinases in Axon Guidanceand Neurite Outgrowth.

The schools Officeof Student Researchprovides guidanceand financial support,including:

> Assistance in identify-ing research topics andfinding mentors

> An annual StudentResearch Day postersession and presentations,followed by the FarrLecture by world-classscientists

> Summer researchstipends and short-termstudent research stipends

> One-year studentfellowships, which enablestudents to spend a fullyfunded fifth year doinglaboratory, translational,or clinical research.Farr Lecturers

Arnold RelmanAnthony S. FauciSidney AltmanSydney BrennerJoseph L. GoldsteinFrancis S. CollinsJudah FolkmanAlfred G. Gilman

Robert J. LefkowitzRichard P. LiftonPaul GreengardEdward J. Benz Jr.Story C. LandisArthur HorwichJeffrey FriedmanJack EliasDavid NathanStuart OrkinLewis Landsberg

42.NEW ENGLAND

No one tells you how beautiful NewHaven is, or the area around the city. In10 minutes you can go for a walk on thebeach in the summer, or pickapples in October, or cross-country ski in the winter.Spring is just plain gorgeous.

43.THE GREAT

PIZZADEBATE

It is a truth universallyacknowledged that NewHaven has the best pizzain the United States,maybe the world. But

Pepes or Sallys? Welljust have to keep testin gthem both until thatquestion is resolved.*

* Hey, what about Modernon State Street?

Clockwise from top:Sleeping Giant StatePark; LighthousePoint on LongIsland Sound; theNew Haven Green,the center of thecitys nine squares.

Medical studentsget a chance topresent and discusstheir thesis workat Student ResearchDay, which takesplace each May.


25/43

46 47

45.A CLOSE-KNIT

COMMUNITY

We dont think of patients ascollections of body parts, andwe dont think of doctors thatway either. For that reason,

we encourage our students toreflect on all aspects of theirtraining and practice, frompower relationshipswithpatients, with colleagues,with superiorsto dealingwith death and dying.And, of course, becausewe are such a small school,the faculty can know eachstudent as a whole person.Students will grow to bebetter doctors if they do

not lose their individuality.Margaret Bia, M.D.Professor of Medicine and Nephrology and Directorof the Clinical Skills Training Program

Clinical instructionincludes classesthat equip studentsto communicatewith patients andprovide compas-sionate care at theend of life.


26/43

48 49

48.YALE PROGRAM ON

AGING

The cutting edge doesnthave to be high tech. MaryTinetti, M.D., for example,has been studying waysto reduce the risk of falls

among the elderly. Suchroutine health issues havelong been overlooked inmedical research, but Tinetti,a MacArthur fellow anddirector of the Yale Program

on Aging, designed a clinical study thatdemonstrated how a set of ordinary inter-

ventionsincreased hydration, exercises,changing doses of medicationscould significantly reducethe rate of falls and prevent future disability and functionaldecline. Published in theNew England Journal of Medicineand other journals, Tinettis work could improve millionsof lives. Such close attention to the patient, questioning ofassumptions, and creative thinking about how to improvelife for a broad populationthese have been the hallmarksof the Program on Aging for decades, and they are theunderlying lessons of a Yale medical education.

One clinical counterpart to the Program on Aging isthe Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Center at Yale-NewHaven Hospital. The Adler Center sta of geriatricians,geriatric psychiatrists, nurse case managers, patient careassistants, physical therapists, and neuropsychologistshelps patients and their families develop comprehensiveplans to preserve their quality of life, manage their clinicalcare, and link them with other resources in the community.

Another model program is the hospitals Acute Care forthe Elderly Unit, which integrates the work of specialistsfrom many fields to provide the complex care that elderlyinpatients often require. Programs such as these have put

Yale-New Haven Hospital among the top 10 hospitals inthe country for geriatric medicine.

46.NEXT-GENERATION

OPTICALIMAGING

If people are interested in cutting-edge tech-nology for looking at processes in living cells,

Yale is the place to go, says Derek Toomre,Ph.D., associate professor of cell biology.

Hes walking through the Sterling Hall ofMedicine alongside Joerg Bewersdorf, Ph.D.,another expert in super-resolution imag-ing who recently joined the faculty. Theypass labs where extremely sophisticatedmicroscopes are pampered in spaces thatabsorb vibration and precisely controltemperature. All this space, equipment,and talent at Yale is dedicated to a singlepurpose: Catching life in actiondownto the level of single molecules.

Conventional microscopy is limitedin resolution by the diraction limit of light(about 200 nanometers), and small detailsare lost. Various new nanoscopes beat thelight barrier and oer high resolution, 3-D

views of living cells over time. Researcherscan observe and manipulate basic biologicalprocesses on the organelle and molecularlevel. For example, one student is watchinghow the vesicles of a fat cell react to insulin.

Yale is not only one of the few institutionsto have these technologies; it is improvingthem. Scientists like Toomre and Bewersdorfare working to make it faster and more use-ful to researchers.

The late George Palade, a Nobel laure-ate who founded the Department of CellBiology in the 1970s, pioneered electronmicroscopy. The departments historycombines excellence in imaging withfundamental discoveries. Todays researchusing Yales super-resolution capabilitieshas implications for neurological disorders,cancer and type 2 diabetes. Seeing lifein unprecedented detail may help answersome of medicines biggest questions.

Students interestedin the cutting edgeof cell imaging havethe opportunity todo research withscientists who arepushing the limitsof the field. Thedevice at left is

a Leica STEDsuper-resolutionmicroscope, oneof only three inthe United Statesin 2010.

Mary Tinetti,M.D., directorof Yale Programon Aging

47.INTEREST

GROUPS

Students form newinterest groups each year;this is the list in 2010

Bioethics

Emergency Medicine

Environmental Health

Family Medicine

Geriatrics

Nathan Smith Club(History of Medicine)

Integrative Medicine

Internal Medicine

Nutrition and Medicine

Ob/Gyn

Pediatrics

Physician Scientists

NeurologySurgery

Wilderness Medicine

Womens Health


27/43

50 51

Museums & Galleries

Beinecke Rare Book &Manuscript Library

Creative Arts Workshop

Eli Whitney Museum

John Slade Ely House

New Haven Museum andHistorical Society

Peabody Museum ofNatural History

Yale Center for British Art

Yale Collection of MusicalInstruments

Yale University ArtGallery (above)

Theatre

Little Theater

Long Wharf Theatre

Shubert PerformingArts Center

The University Theatre

Yale Cabaret

Yale Repertory Theatre(left)

Festivals

Celebration of AmericanCrafts, Nov.Dec.

Cherry Blossom Festival,April

International Festival ofArts and Ideas, JuneJuly

Concerts on the Green,July

New Haven Jazz Festival,August

50.CULTURE

New Haven is a small city, but that onlymeans that its world-class museums andgalleries, its great repertory theaters, and itsactive schedule of festivals are all aordableand easily accessible. There is more music,art, film, and drama in any given week than

you can possibly fit in your schedule.

49.IMMUNO-BIOLOGY

Yale wrote the book on it:Janeways Immunobiologyhasoutlived its original leadauthor, the renowned Yaleprofessor Charles Janeway,M.D., but still carries hisname. Janeway was partof the exceptional groupof immunobiologists that has made Yale

a leader in studies of the immune system,from the molecular level to the therapeutic.

Janeway himself pioneered explorationof the innate immune system (the powerbehind the adaptive immune system). In the 1990sa dark time for the sci-ences in RussiaDr. Janeways work foundits way into the hands of Ruslan Medzhitov,Ph.D., then a graduate student at MoscowUniversity. Janeways theories about theimmune system put Medzhitov on a careerpath that led eventually to Yale, where heand Janeway discovered the role of Toll-likereceptors as the central players in the innate

immune system. Today, as the David W.Wallace Professor of Immunobiology atYale, Medzhitov is exploring the possibilitythat Toll-like receptors trigger chronicinflammation that is at the root of diseasesfrom coronary artery disease to Alzheimers. Throughout the department, facultyare working on basic science with highlypractical application. For example, SterlingProfessor Richard Flavell, Ph.D., wasawarded $17 million in the first round ofthe Gates Foundations Grand Challengesin Global Health grants, to generate amouse with a rudimentary human immunesystem that could be used in testing

vaccines against diseases prevalent in thedeveloping world. The project fits Dr.Flavells definition of a good researchproject: It is curiosity-driven, pursuingsuch basic questions as How does thebody work? But we always study this usingdiseases that matter. And what we try todo is to force ourselves to ask the question,Is this an important problem? The mousewill allow researchers to pretest weakenedlive vaccines for safety and eectivenessbefore human trials with an unprecedentedlevel of confidence. Yales Department of Immunobiologyone of the few freestanding immunobiologydepartments in the worldis now look-ing at the molecular, cellular, and geneticmechanisms of flu,AIDS, Lyme disease,

genital herpes, chlamydia, asthma, andautoimmune diseases, including inflamma-tory bowel disease, diabetes, systemic lupuserythematosus, and multiple sclerosis. Theyare also studying the role of immunologyin organ transplantation and graft versushost disease and developing ways for theimmune system to attack tumors. With adistinguished faculty, a long-standing part-nership with the Howard Hughes MedicalInstitute, advanced facilities in the medicalschools newest buildings, the departmentoers unmatched training in the basicand translational science of immunology.

In 1988, ChairRichard Flavellfounded the firstacademic unit inthe U.S. devotedto research inimmunology. Healso plays a rau-cous lead guitarin a biorockband called theCellmates.

The YaleUniversity ArtGallery, left, hasworks by Monet,Degas, Cezanne,and van Goghin its collection.Below: A produc-tion of Pop!, an

Andy Warhol-inspired musicaland whodunit, atthe Yale Rep.


28/43

52 53

51.ALUMNI

This is an auda-cious undertaking,declared NIHDirector FrancisCollins, M.D., Ph.D.,back when he

signed on as head ofthe Human GenomeProject. Perhapsyou cant teach

audacity, but at Yale we certainly encour-age it. Thats one reason this relatively

small medical school has such a long list of distinguishedalumni. If youre around on reunion weekend or browsingthe pages of the alumni magazine, youre likely to meet ahead of state, a college president, a U.S. senator, or oneof the many medical school deans, biotech innovators orhealth system reformers who studied at the Yale School ofMedicine. (Collins got his Ph.D. at Yale and was a post-doctoral fellow in Human Genetics at the medical schoolin the early 1980s.) Some say Yale physicians thrive inleadership roles because the Yale System prepared them tobe independent and original thinkers.

Others believe the schools commitment to service

drives so many to have a broad and lasting influence.Assistant U.S. Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, M.D. 77,M.P.H.,went to Washington to help his own patients. Iveseen too many patients suer preventable suering anddie preventable deaths, he said. The only answer to thatchallenge is promoting prevention through public health. Whether leading a federal agency, inventing a bet-ter way to deliver care, or treating patients on the frontlines of medicine, Yale alumni engage at the highest level.Passionate curiosity and a deep resolve to improve humanhealth are the hallmarks of every student who walksthrough the doors of the Sterling Hall of Medicine. Thesequalities bind classmates to each other and to the genera-tions of students who came before them.

Bringing medical carewhere there was none

Kinari Webb, M.D.,who graduated from theSchool of Medicine in2002, is making Borneoa healthier place. Herclinic near GunungPalung National Parkprovides the only healthcare available in one ofIndonesias most remoteareas. Her patients canearn credits and dis-counts by working in theclinics organic gardensor opting out of illegallogging. Webb spent

10 years preparing toopen Alam Sehat Lestari,Indonesian for health andeverlasting nature,alwaysenvisioning it as botha clinic and conservationprogram. Last year,74 people who had beenblind regained visionthrough cataract surgerythere, a new four-wheeldrive ambulance took awoman to the nearest cityin time for an emergencyC-section, and 10 acresof newly planted treesat the forests edge werereaching for the sky.

52.West CampusEveryone uses the same word to describeWest Campus: Transformative. Yale made the largest property acquisi-

tion in its history in 2007, when it boughtthe former Bayer research center, a 136-acrecomplex six miles from Sterling Hall ofMedicine. The property came with morethan 400,000 square feet of high-end labo-ratory space, ready to welcome scientists.

Even planning to build such a facility fromscratch would have taken years.

The major investment in acquiringWest Campus wasnt real estate, says DeanRobert Alpern, M.D.It is and will be fillingthat space with remarkable investigators, aprocess that will unfold over a number ofyears. West Campus is rapidly becoming

home to internationally known faculty,using state of-the art equipment to conductresearch on everything from microbialdiversity to cancer biology. Those are theresearch areas central to two of the newinstitutes planned for West Campus; others

will be focused on systems biology, chemi-cal biology, and biodesign (a collaborationbetween cell biology and engineering).

Sophisticated new core facilities giveYale faculty and student researchers thetools to conduct high-throughput gene

sequencing, chemical screening, and RNAinterference studies, and student researchopportunities abound at West Campus. Itis an integral part of Yale, but it is also aneighborhood with a vibe of its own, where

wild turkey share the lawns with humans.The campus features Yales newest child carecenter, school outreach programs run by thePeabody Museum, and a nature trail. Manyof the universitys library, art and naturalhistory holdings are stored at West Campus,

which is also home to a major digitizationproject for the universitys collections.

NIH DirectorFrancis Collins.


29/43

54 55

53.FACULTY-STUDENT

INTERACTION?

WEGETIT.No other school has moreintense and sustained

interaction between studentsand faculty. And becausefaculty work so closely withstudents, they dont need toquiz students to find out whatthey know, and they dontneed grades to assess theirprogress. This in turn meansthat theres great room forindividuality; students standout for their own specialtalents and abilities andinterests, not how well they

do on the same tests aseveryone else.James Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D.Director, M.D./Ph.D.program

We see not students,but future colleagues.Dennis D. Spencer, M.D.Cushing Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery

The faculty getsworkingwith students.Nancy Angoff, M.D., M.P.H.Associate Dean for Student Affairs

Students connectwith facultyduring a seminaron palliative care,top, at the WhiteCoat Ceremony,and at the Hungerand HomelessnessAuction.


30/43

56 57

56.NEW

THERAPIES

In the 1990s, Yale boasted of the number ofdrugs in the pipeline from university labsto major pharmaceutical companies. Today,a laboratory discovery is as likely to lead tothe startup of a company designed arounda particular line of research. Yale has put

substantial resources into fostering startups,which it sees both as a way to bring usefulproducts to market and a means of boost-ing the New Haven economy. Over 30 newcompanies have been incubated throughYales Oce of Cooperative Research,attracting well over $3 billion in investments. Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D., the WilliamH. Pruso Professor and chair of theDepartment of Pharmacology, is a primeexample of the biomedical entrepreneurswho are leading Yales eorts in this area.Renowned for his work on the signalingpathways that communicate to a cell whetheror not to divide and grow, Schlessinger hasstarted three companies topursue the therapeutic appli-cations of his basic science

research. These companieshave already produced twonew cancer drugs.

54.The MedicalHistorical

LIBRARYOf all the libraries in all the educationalinstitutions of our world, there is nonequite like this one. ... That large, comfort-

able, book-lined room ... is a sanctumcontaining the lore and the collectedreminiscences of the art of healing. It is amuseum, a portrait gallery, a storehouseof the literature of medicines past, anda refuge from the hurly-burly of modernscientific technology that surrounds it.

Sherwin Nuland, M.D.from Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, 1988

The Medical Historical Library is theshowpiece of the comprehensive HarveyCushing/John Hay Whitney MedicalLibrary, through which students can access

virtually every medical pub-lication in the world via itsdocument delivery services.And the Cushing/ WhitneyLibrary is just one partof the 13 million-volume Yale UniversityLibrary System. Medical students makeparticular use of the Kline Science Library,but they can also explore unparalleledcollections ranging from the law library tothe Beinecke Rare Book and ManuscriptLibrary. None of these libraries is morethan a short walk from the medical school.

The Medical Library is an important

component of a Yale medical education.During orientation week, each studentis introduced to his or her personallibrariana library sta member whowill work closely with about 20 students.Throughout the students time inmedical school, librarians will recommendresources for thesis research and patientcare questions, and provide instructionin the use of relevant technologies. Thisunique program augments more generalseminars on evidence-based practiceand information management that arescheduled in all four years.

55.A GREAT PLACE TOLIVEIm from New York City, andNew Haven is close enoughthat I could go home a lot,and my family could comehere. But I found everything

I needed here. I got to dolots of community serviceIworked as a patient translator,for exampleand still finishedin four years. But I liked itso much Im staying for myresidency.Luz Jimenez, Class of 2009

The MedicalLibrary, dedicatedin 1941, wasthe brainchild ofneurosurgeonHarvey Cushing.

Philadelphia

NewHaven

New York

Boston

JosephSchlessinger isthe founder ofthree biotechnol-

ogy companies,including KolltanPharmaceuticalsin 2008.


31/43

58 59

57.TRANS-PLANTATIONSURGERY

Today 18 people will die in the United Stateswaiting for an organ transplant. Thatsnot a statistic Sukru Emre, M.D., can live

with. The internationally known surgeon

was recruited in 2008 to build Yales smalltransplant program into a leading one. Thenumber of organ transplants performed hereclimbed dramatically, with an outstandingsuccess rate. The transplant initiative createsnew hope for patients at Yale and beyond, as

Emre and his colleagues advance the field sothat more lives can be saved, even with thelimited number of donated organs available. The liver regenerates, as the ancientGreeks already knew, explains Emre.

Remember Prometheus, whose liver grewback each time it was eaten by an eagle? Wecan identify eight segments within the liver,each of which has its own blood supply,bile duct, and venous return. These can allfunction independently. So what I do is cutthe liver into two pieces. Most commonly,

we share one liver between one adult andone child. We have recently started sharingone liver between two adults. This split liver technique makes itpossible for a living person to be a donor.

Both the donors liver and the recipientswill grow back to normal size in about eightweeks, and when the recipient is a child, theliver grows along with the child, says Emre. Organ transplants are dicult in partbecause they aect so many of the bodyssystems. By the same token, building astrong transplant program aects depart-ments throughout the medical center.

These are complicated

enterprises. I say that trans-plantation is not a disciplinebut a complex matrix of disciplines, includ-ing surgery, medicine, hepatology, infectiousdisease, pharmacology, pathology, nursing,and psychology, says Emre. Yale recruitedtop clinicians and provided other resourcesin a range of specialties to support its trans-plant initiative. The section performs liverand kidney transplants, often with mini-mally invasive techniques. Heart transplantsare performed by cardiac surgeons.

An active transplant program createsexciting research possibilities. Throughcollaborations with immunobiology andother basic sciences where the universityhas a strong base, the section is developingstrategies to combat rejection and address

the long-term health issues faced by trans-plant recipients.

Emre often talks about his desire to bea complete physician, one who combinesdeep and broad medical knowledge withcompassionate care. Patients are amazed athow quickly he returns e-mails and at thetime hell take to carefully explain options.For him, the role of complete physicianincludes advocacy for his patients. He seizeson opportunities to speak to communitygroups and the press about organ donation.

Dont take your organs to heaven, he urges,because heaven knows we need them here.

59.FIFTH YEARWhy would you want to spend an extra year in medicalschool? As you peer ahead down the formidable road intothe medical profession, a fifth year of medical school mightseem like the last thing you would sign up for. But about

half of Yale medical students do, and many of them earn amasters of health science research in addition to their m.d. Some are pursuing in-depth research on their thesistopic. Some are exploring clinical electives and subintern-ships. All are demonstrating how much they love theirexperience at the Yale School of Medicine. If you do choose to complete your medical educationover five years rather than four, Yale will not charge youtuition for the fifth year. In fact, 20 to 25 students each yearare awarded fifth-year research fellowships from organiza-tions including the Howard Hughes MedicalInstitute, the nih, the Sarno Foundation,the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, andYale. A living stipend is included.

58.COMMUNITY

SERVICE

Yale medical studentshave a strongcommitment to socialresponsibility, and

every year they take onimportant projects, frompromoting access tomedicines in developingcountries to defendingtorture victims. Theseare a few of the organiza-tions in which medicalstudents act locally:

Anatomy TeachingProgram (above)

Bio2

Columbus HouseWalk-In Clinic

Committee OverseeingVolunteer Services

Downtown EveningSoup Kitchen

Educational CareClinic at Clifford Beers

Community MentalHealth Clinic

Funny Bones at Yale

HAVENFree Clinic

Health ProfessionalRecruitmentEducation Program(HPREP)

HIVIntervention andPrevention Corps

Neighborhood HealthProject

Nutrition Detectives

Youth ScienceEnrichment Program

Sukru Emre,chief of organ

transplantation.

Fifth-year studentsBen Erickson andChris Painter (rightand second fromright) are pursuingthe M.H.S. degree.


32/43

60 61

62.GREAT DEBATESStudents argue a lot during their clerkshipin Obstetrics, Gynecology, and ReproductiveSciences. In a weekly Controversial Topicssession, they debate issues such as water birthand hormone replacement therapy. Eachside presents studies supporting its position,followed by rebuttal and discussion.

Though many students give voice to their inner PerryMasons, the debates are not a test of oratory skill. In theend, we want the evidence to prevail, explained AssistantProfessor Jessica Illuzzi, M.D., who directs the clerkship. She devised the format because students often returnedfrom clinical placements curious, even puzzled, about why aphysician made a given choice. The Department of Obstetrics,Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences is a national leader in

research and clinical care, so students would expect that theirprofessors could easily answer their questions. But Illuzzi sawthat students would learn more by finding their own answers.There are more controversial topics in our field than inothers, said Illuzzi. Without research definitively supportingone side, physicians must be rigorous in evaluating evidence.Debating helps students do just that.

Its not unusual for a debater to declare afterward: Imarguing against the side I believe in! That itself is a learningexperience, added Illuzzi, as students must challenge theirpreconceptions. Debaters arrive prepared and passionate.Illuzzi believes this enthusiastic response is linked to theinquiring, independent bent she sees in students

100 reasons yale

Documents