As the Brown Medical School seeks approval of a plan to increase the size of its student body, the Program in Liberal Medical Education is also currently undergoing re-evaluation.
Eli Adashi, dean of medical and biological sciences, recently appointed a committee to discuss the current PLME curriculum, including the preparation PLME undergraduates receive before entering the Medical School, according to Philip Gruppuso, associate dean of medicine.
This committee's tasks will include gathering student input, and students will be included on the committee. Gruppuso declined to elaborate further on any proposed changes. Potential modifications will be recommended to a series of other University committees, and Adashi's committee will eventually request approval from the Brown Corporation regarding any changes.
The Medical School's proposed expansion plan, which has not yet been approved, would allow for an enrollment increase of 12 students every year for the next three years, resulting in a total of 108 students in the entering class.
The Medical School first implemented an open application process two years ago. Last year, 11 members of the 72-person entering class were admitted from other institutions.
"We have the sixth smallest entering class of any medical school in the United States," Gruppuso said. "There's just no reason for us to be so small in a time when the number of required physicians will go up 15 to 30 percent."
Grupposo continued: "The decision was made not to increase the size of the PLME class (but) to diversify the student body by allowing students from other institutions to apply to the Brown Medical school."
Though the size of each PLME class will stay the same, other changes may be in store for the program. "The PLME program has stayed pretty much the same for the last 20 years ... any changes have been small and gradual," Gruppuso said.
"Because of an evolution in medicine and an evolution in how people are trained to be physicians, every place needs to periodically be reviewing its curriculum, and that's what's happening at Brown now," said Provost Robert Zimmer.
Gruppuso explained that some of the more controversial issues facing the PLME program relate to how much students are exposed to the life sciences before entering the Medical School. Although PLME students do currently have math, chemistry and physics requirements to fulfill, Gruppuso explained that they do not have the variety of experiences that many other students do upon entering medical school. While PLME students typically enroll in the Medical School immediately after completing their undergraduate degrees, traditional pre-medical students sometimes spend several years pursuing other academic interests, he said.
In addition, PLME students can avoid some of the requirements facing traditional pre-med students.
"If you look at what most pre-med school applicants take, they have taken a wide array of life science courses," Gruppuso said. "Right now you can go through the PLME program without ever taking biology."
John Molina '08, a PLME student, defended some of the benefits of the current program. "The sciences you learn in medical school are a whole new ballgame," Molina said. "I feel that because I am taking humanities classes, I have a stronger academic background, and my studies will help me deal with the non-medical aspects of being a doctor in terms of the doctor-patient relationship."
