The Core Curriculum consists of clerkships in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, neurology, ambulatory care medicine, critical care, and advanced medicine. Clerkships provide a rich experience on the wards of our teaching hospitals, where the student learns to deal with the most serious problems in physiological dysfunction. The student becomes a member of the healthcare team and participates in all phases of the patient’s care, from admission through discharge.

The faculty guides the student through the principles of medicine toward a rational understanding of human illness. Bedside instruction is the basic element of teaching in the clinical clerkship. The student learns to integrate the essentials of history-taking, the physical examination, and results of laboratory tests with an understanding of the mechanisms of disease in order to reach a meaningful differential diagnosis. Teaching methods, however, are not limited to direct interaction with patients; they also incorporate standardized patient encounters with observation and feedback, and case studies that vertically integrate and amplify material introduced in the pre-clinical years.

During the Clinical Elective period, students may pursue research or clinical programs at the School of Medicine, its affiliated hospitals, or at other institutions here and abroad. During the clinical elective months, students are encouraged to complete an Independent Study project. Opportunities for projects are available in areas of biomedical research, clinical investigation, urban health, computer science, and many others.