To Be...A Spartan MD

Many things have understandably changed in the last few months, as medical schools continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical school students have been among those adapting nobly to the current circumstances. Yet as the Class of 2020 concludes their medical school training despite these unusual disruptions, one thing that hasn't changed is that College of Human Medicine graduates continue to move on to some of the most competitive residency placements across the country.  It's time for another great group of #SpartanMD physicians to enter the workforce and, in fact, some already have. This past March, Michigan State University announced a swift move to make graduating health care students available in the COVID-19 response. Whereas students typically begin their residency positions in July, a group of CHM graduates were among the 350 health care workers to enter the workforce before the end of April. The announcement came shortly after yet another strong Match Day

The College of Human Medicine had to make some decisions. After all, the Shared Discovery Curriculum requires clinical experience as a foundation to the hands-on training that CHM students receive. Yet in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the college made the necessary call to remove students from their clinical posts. “I am disappointed that our students are not currently in clinical settings, and I think it is deeply important for students to re-enter clinical rotations soon,” said Dr. Aron Sousa, CHM Interim Dean in the April 3rd Dean’s Update . “The whole point of our curriculum is that students will be useful, because being useful is a powerful educational experience and the key to their future performance.” The college decided to quickly transition from inpatient clerkships to delivering remote courses before preparing Late Clinical Experience students for a safe return to patient care. A small group of CHM administrators were charged with addressing those tasks. What they pr