A monthly newsletter for prospective and accepted students of the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Medical Improv Course Boosts Communication and
Teamwork Skills
Medical students learn to enhance communication and teamwork skills through a medical improv course, part of their seminar in bioethics and medical humanities.
EDUCATION
Medical student Arianna Yanes created Supper with Six to bridge the gap between class years and even other Northwestern students.
Alumni Physicians Connect With Students for Informal Career Talks 
    
RESEARCH
Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a protein that acts as a marker for a population of cells that may be an origin for prostate cancers.
Muscles Have Circadian Clocks That Control Exercise Response

CLINICAL
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, along with experts from medicine, law and government, gathered to discuss the current opioid crisis at the 2016 Global Health Interdisciplinary Symposium. 
Physical Activity Helps Older Adults Maintain Mobility 
 
WELLNESS
Roshni Bhatnagar, a third-year medical student, shared her perspective on wellness during her OB-GYN rotation. After treating a patient with her attending, she reflected on sharing bad news to the patient's family, realizing that the most valuable thing she could do was show compassion for another person's grief. She wrote:  

"Though this family's loss was too great for me to leave the hospital feeling happy at the end of the shift, I found that bringing something positive to their experience still kept me well. After a few years in medical school, I learned that wellness does not always equate to happiness. Rather, wellness is achieving alignment between your actions and your values. In that way, I am lucky to be in a profession in which our actions often demonstrate our values. It may be unrealistic to think that I'll always be happy as a medical student --  there are too many stressful exams, under-slept nights and moments of confusion for me to be happy all the time. But this is a profession that allows me to share a genuine smile or a hand in solidarity so many times a day and those are little actions that can help me be well. Amid lives saved and lives lost, perhaps being well is more rewarding than being happy."
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Diversity and Inclusion Welcome Event
More than 200 students and faculty attended a welcome event hosted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for the incoming medical school class. Learn more about important milestones from the 2015-2016 year, as the office continues to focus on building awareness of diversity and inclusion.

Focus on the MD Curriculum

Medical student progress at Feinberg is assessed through a competency-based system, which empowers students to become self-reflective professionals. Students are assessed across multiple domains of their performance. The feedback provided is clear, in order to provide a full understanding of the current level of skill and knowledge.

During each Phase, assessments are compiled into an electronic portfolio. Students then review this feedback and write portfolio reflections on their progress in the Feinberg Competencies, which includes individualized Learning Plans. Once the Reflections and Learning Plans are reviewed by their college mentors, they are submitted to the portfolio committee for final review and determination of readiness to move on to the next phase of the curriculum.
 
During Phase 1, block grades are awarded as pass/pass after remediation. Failed exams and competency performance that does not meet benchmarks must be remediated.

In Phase 2, clerkship grades are awarded as honors, high pass, pass and fail. Student academic outcomes, research and extracurricular activities are used to identify students eligible for Alpha Omega Alpha designation and graduation honors.  Outcomes for Feinberg students in the National Residency Match Program are exceptionally good with over 62 percent matching at top 25 U.S. News-ranked residency programs.  
Why Did I Choose Feinberg?
 
Matthew Doerfler is a second-year medical student.
Matthew Doerfler, a second-year medical student and chairperson of the Student Advisory Committee on Global Health, recently presented at Global Health Days on his research project assessing the use of a sputum collection cup for a new tuberculosis screening test among the laboratory users and transportation staff in Cape Town, South Africa. 

Why did you choose Feinberg?
One reason is that I really liked the Center for Global Health. There's a huge global health presence here at Northwestern and a lot of funding -- I think at the time I applied, about 50 percent of undergraduate medical students did work abroad, which is remarkable.
 
I was also interested in pediatrics, and having worked as a child-life volunteer at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, I knew it was a great place.
 
What aspects of the curriculum have you liked best?
I really like how active the curriculum is. For example, with Education-Centered Medical Home we go to a local clinic once a week as a team of medical students and work together with the attendings. I think it's great because it correlates what we're learning in class to patients.
 
What has been your proudest moment so far?
Last year, I was the president of Camp Wildcat, a student organization here that works with Chicago Youth Programs. The organization takes kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods and exposes them to extracurricular activities with medical students, such as an annual Halloween party and a science fair. At the end of the year, we took them on a weekend retreat to a camp two hours outside of the city, and they loved it.
Admissions Q&A

When do Feinberg students begin working with patients and learning clinical skills?
From the beginning of  Phase 1 -- the first 20 months of Feinberg's medical school curriculum -- all students spend one half day every other week learning and practicing clinical skills.
 
Are joint degree programs available?
Feinberg offers a number of joint degree programs for MD students. Learn more about degree options and all of Feinberg's educational offerings via the   program listing   on the Education site.