Medical Research Scholars Program: Mentored Clinical Experience

Graduate / Professional

The purpose of the Mentored Clinical Experience (MCE), an MRSP-specific course (one year requirement for students in the Program in Translational Biomedicine [PTB]), (requirement for second-year translational biomedicine students in the PTB), is to permit students to gain a deep understanding of and appreciation for the interface between basic biomedical research and its application to clinical practice. The MCE is intended to integrate basic and translational research with direct exposure to clinical medicine and patients afflicted with the diseases or conditions under discussion. The course provides a foundation and a critically important forum for class discussion because each module stimulates students to explore a disease process in depth over four ninety-minute sessions led by expert clinician-scientists. The structure incorporates four perspectives to introduce the students to a particular disease or condition and then encourages them to probe areas that are not understood or fully resolved so they can appreciate the value and challenge inherent in using basic science to enhance clinical medicine. Students are provided biomedical resource material for background to the sessions as well as articles or other publicly available information that offers insight to the perspective from the non-scientific world. During this course students meet with patients who have experienced the disease and/or visit and explore facilities associated with diagnosis and treatment of the disease process. Students are expected to prepare for sessions, to participate actively, and to be scrupulously respectful of patients and patient facilities. Prior to one of the sessions students receive guidance as to what they will observe and how to approach the experience; and at the end of the session, the students discuss their thoughts and impressions. All students receive HIPAA training and appropriate training in infection control and decorum relating to patient contact prior to the course. F 9am-10:30am