Welcome to The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education

<body link="#003399" vlink="#003399" alink="#cc0000"> <div align="center"> <table width="648" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td> <A href="http://www.cuny.edu" target="_blank"><img src="cunylogo.jpg" width="80" alt="CUNY Logo - Go to CUNY Home Page" border="0"></a> </td> <td colspan="4" align="center"><font color="#FFFFFF"> </font> <img src="Sophielogo.gif" width="230" alt="The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education"> </td> <td align="right"> <A href="http://www.ccny.cuny.edu" target="_blank"><img src="ccnylogo.gif" width="80" alt="CCNY Logo - Go to CCNY Home Page" border="0"></a> </td> <tr> <td colspan="6" align="left"> <br> </td> </tr> <tr> <th colspan="6" bgcolor="#003399" valign="top"> <span class="box">General Information</span> </th> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="648" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <tr> <TD colspan="6"> <div align="center"><h2>The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education<br> A Brief Description</h2></div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" width="324" align="center" valign="top"> <p> <img src="medstudent.jpg" width="324" alt="Pictures of Sophie Davis Student and Young Girl" border="0"> </td> <TD colspan="3" valign="top"> <p> <font color="003399"><B>Thirty years ago, </B></font>The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education of the City University of New York Medical School began as a unique program to increase access to medical and health training for inner-city youths, particularly under-represented minorities, from the City's communities and schools. A major part of its mission is to train primary care professionals who will practice in medically under-served communities of New York. The School has remained firmly committed to this original mission. There are more than 1,400 graduates of whom more than 80% from the past ten years have continued in primary care.</p> <P> <font color="003399"><B>Headquartered at the City College, </B></font>The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education offers an innovative five-year program that integrates undergraduate education with the first two years of medical school. Students receive a foundation in the liberal arts, community health and social medicine as well as the biomedical sciences. </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6" valign="top"> <p> Students receive a B.S. from City College and then transfer to one of six medical schools in New York State (SUNY at Stony Brook, Downstate, and Syracuse, Albany, NYU and New York Medical College) for the third and fourth years of medical school training. In recognition of the support received from a specialized State-funded program, graduates must sign a pledge to serve for two years as a primary care physician in an under-served area after they complete their residencies.</p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="648" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"> <tr> <td colspan="4" valign="top"> <P> <font color="003399"><B>Sophie Davis students </B></font>come from more than 75 high schools throughout the metropolitan region. Entrance to the School is highly competitive and our acceptance rate is about 18%. A recent graduate spent a year in Australia on a Fulbright Scholarship, studying Eastern complementary medicine. A current fifth year student has been named a Millennium Gates Scholar, a real distinction as most such scholars are either in mathematics or pure science fields. Our students are committed to their life dream of becoming physicians: 85% of entering Sophie Davis students actually complete medical school compared to a 50% attrition rate among freshmen entering premedical programs at four-year colleges and universities. Sophie Davis' educational approach results in a 45% enrollment of under-represented minorities, representing a diversity unparalleled at other medical schools in New York State. Each Sophie Davis graduating class is small, but its contribution to New York's pool of new minority physicians is disproportionately high. Most of our graduates complete residencies in or around New York City. <br>   </td> <td colspan="2" width="280" align="center" valign="middle"> <p> <a href="http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/aboutus/campus/index.htm" target="_blank"><img src="quad.gif" width="280" alt="Pictures of CCNY Quadrangle - Click for a Campus Tour" border="0"></a> Views of the City College Quadrangle <br> <b>Click the picture for a Campus Tour</b></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6"> <P> <font color="003399"><B>To ensure the future of our mission, the School is focusing its efforts in three areas. </B></font> In this way, our graduates will continue to serve as proficient and compassionate primary care physicians in a changing and evolving community. <ol> <li><font color="003399"><B>We are undertaking a major curriculum review and revision </B></font>to expand problem-based learning and to facilitate the integration of many of our basic science courses with clinical training. An integrated course on infectious diseases already exists, and one on patient interviewing skills, jointly designed by two departments, began last year. We believe that this approach will encourage the students to begin the process of life-long learning. By questioning their colleagues, their mentors, and their professors, our students are finding answers to problems posed by the integrated case studies. Our students learn that skills in framing questions and following-through will be critical in relating to patients in their communities. This approach is an overdue departure from the lecture- based curriculum which was once typical at most medical schools. We are designing and implementing appropriate staff development and training to facilitate these changes in our curriculum. <br><br> </li> <li><font color="003399"><B>We are increasing exposure to clinical experiences as a real priority. </B></font>The School is neither physically nor formally attached to a teaching hospital so we must form partnerships with other institutions. Currently, we are partners with eight community health centers located in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn to implement a new curriculum, Introduction to Primary Care, funded by a three-year grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. For the past three years, this experience has given our fourth-year students a chance to experience and observe the delivery of primary care services at the community level. This experience paves the way for a smooth transition when our students match with the six cooperating medical schools for their final two years of training. <br><br> </li> <li><font color="003399"><B>We are emphasizing the development of good communication skills. </B></font>Given the shift in demographics in our urban centers and under-served communities, most of our graduates, as Primary Care physicians, will offer the first line of health defense for many of our newest citizens. A patient's compliance and health depend on that very first meeting. Good communication and understanding of cultural differences become paramount. Our interviewing skills course uses actors trained as standardized patients who role-play with students, enhancing the students' comfort and effectiveness in taking medical histories and eliciting information. Sophie Davis students will use these skills during their sessions at the collaborating community health centers, as they work with the centers' staff, physicians and patients. </ol> <font color="003399"><B>Our mission to bring under-represented minorities into the School and to emphasize Primary Care training has never been more important. </B></font>Medical school enrollment overall has been declining, and the American Association of Medical Colleges' 3,000 by 2000 goal to increase the numbers of underrepresented minorities has not been met. A number of scholarships for our students are available through the generosity of the Leonard and Sophie Davis, the William Randolph Hearst, the W. Clement & Jesse V. Stone, the Life Foundations and The Rita & Howard Shapiro Memorial Scholarship Fund. These scholarships allow us to attract qualified students to choose Sophie Davis as a preferred route to becoming a physician. <P> <font color="003399"><B>Two key players at Sophie Davis deserve mention. </B></font>The School has a small <font color="003399"><B>faculty </B></font>and professors fulfill various functions: they teach; they advise; and they pursue research projects with support from prestigious external funders such as the NIH, NSF, National Foundation of Infectious Diseases, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Josiah Macy Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a number of other private foundations. Many of our <font color="003399"><B> students </B></font>work on these projects with our faculty and learn first-hand the relationship between basic science and medical research. <P> <font color="003399"><B>Our alumni are also key players. </B></font>Alumni are providing mentorships to our students and returning to campus to speak in both informal and formal settings. In the past month, first year students excitedly gathered around two recent alumni who gave a detailed picture of what their lives were like as practicing physicians. Such events inspire our students and reconfirm their commitment. <P> <font color="003399"><B>Both the concept and practice </B></font> of The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education reinforce the City University's mission as a unique educational fount from which great futures can be attained by anyone with the grit and passion to learn. <p>   </p> <p>   </p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div align="center"> <table width="648" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td colspan="6" align="center" valign="top"> <P><div class="navbar"> <A href="programs.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Programs and Curriculum</A>   |   <A href="admissions.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Admissions Requirements</A>   |   <A href="departments.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Departments, Faculty and Staff</A>   |   <A href="alumni/index.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Alumni</A> <BR></div> <div class="footer"> <A href="whatsnew.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">What's New</A>   |   <A href="studentcampus.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Student Affairs & Campus Facilities</A> |   <A href="administration.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Administration</A>   | <A href="general.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">General Information</A>   |   <A href="home.html?userID=8517.1210687756" target="Main">Home</A></div> <BR><BR> 138th Street and Convent Avenue, Room H-107, New York, NY 10031 <BR> <a href="mailto:webmaster@med.cuny.edu">webmaster@med.cuny.edu</a>   |   212-650-5275   |   212-650-6696 (Fax) <BR><BR></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td colspan="6" bgcolor="#003399" align="right" valign="bottom"> <span class="box2">SOPHIE DAVIS IS <img src="cunyorange.gif" width="24" align="absbottom" border="0">        </span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="6" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" align="center" valign="top"> <BR> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>