Hello everyone,
Hope you are all enjoying the spring and have some time off during the summer. There are some changes occurring in the world of undergraduate medical education and we wanted to provide updates.
In the Application Phase of TEC (Translational Education at Carolina), there will be new leadership. After over 20 years as either the director of the Hospital, Interventional, and Surgical Care (HISC) course, aka “Internal Medicine Clerkship” or the clerkship director before it was HISC, Christopher Klipstein is stepping down from his position. In his time as the director, he has won numerous teaching awards from the students, rewritten the curriculum, transitioned into TEC, and he has single-handedly written hundreds of student letters for those students applying to Internal Medicine residency. The students have known him to be the go-to person for Internal Medicine for years, and we are appreciative of his time and effort spent representing our department. Fortunately, Christopher is not leaving, he is just stepping down from this position. He will be passing the reins to Raquel Reyes, who will continue to work with Kathy Barnhouse (Family Medicine) and Luigi Pascarella (Surgery) in the Application Phase. Thank you, Dr. Klipstein, for the many years of leadership and education of the students.
We also now have 3 new medical student chiefs: Seth Alexander, Holly Dockery, and Elizabeth Salisbury. This was an exciting year with numerous applications from some amazing students. We are so grateful for all the work done by Rebecca Varnell and Christine Hamilton alongside Alyssa Tilly last year. We cannot wait to see the work the wonderful new medical student chiefs will be doing with Katie Gill this upcoming cycle. Also, congratulations to the class of 2022 who graduated on May 7th!
UNC SOM offers a Carolina Medical Student Research Program (CMSRP) to medical students interested in research in their first year. It is funded by 5 funding sources and can provide stipends to 40 students every year. Most of the 1styear medical students apply for the program and many of them have published their research alongside a SOM faculty member. Evan Dellon, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, is the Director of the office of medical student research. Along with Dr. Dellon, Maria Ferris, and Ian Carroll, (associate directors) and seven other faculty on the advisory board from other departments, can assist students and faculty to improve research opportunities. Many students are looking for research projects in a variety of areas and we would love for our DOM faculty to consider signing up as mentors or supporting the CMSRP. As Dr. Dellon can attest, the students are extremely helpful not only with your project but also can help with getting research publications. This is a great opportunity to get students exposed to the great research we do in our department, which in turn often ends up in long-term interest, so please consider these opportunities.
If you have other suggestions about what you would like to hear from us, please let us know!
Best,
Koyal Jain and Ashley Henderson