Until recently, first-years interested in face time with the University's top doctors would have to resort to hour-long keg stands or December dips in the Narragansett River. But thanks to a new University initiative, freshmen will soon be able to take first-year seminars with Alpert Medical School professors, according to the September update of the Plan for Academic Enrichment.
Med School faculty interested in teaching undergraduate courses are currently encouraged to work with the College to develop seminars.
"We know there are some medical school faculty who are interested in offering courses for undergraduates," said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. The University has been working "to determine the best ways for this to happen."
The only Med School faculty member who has taught a first-year seminar thus far is Sarah Fox '89, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Though she is a practicing gynecologist, Fox also teaches the seminar GNSS 0090C: "Reproductive Health: Science and Politics." She said the class offers her the opportunity to explore her work from a fresh perspective.
"This is a completely different experience," Fox said. "It's an opportunity to really talk about the politics, the culture, the media, the religion that has to do with medicine. In medical school and in residency, we don't really get to talk about these social sides of the medical issues."
She said teaching a first-year seminar rewards her in ways that her clinical practice cannot.
"It's been so refreshing, really, to see a group of young adults who are really able to have a meaningful conversation about such complex, hot-button issues," Fox said. "It's different than a hardcore science class — it's multidisciplinary, and it offers students just a very rich approach to health care problems."
Bergeron said the new initiative is part of a larger effort to build ties between the College and the Med School — an effort that includes the Program in Liberal Medical Education. According to Fox, the joint project by the first-year seminar program and the Med School could encourage that same type of ground-breaking education.
"You never know where things could go when you get people collaborating in an interdisciplinary fashion," Fox said. "It could really foster a lot of innovation within both disciplines. I think that's where the strength of the program lies."
