Updates...

[mellsworth21]

Any updates with the school? Hows the construction, profs, etc? Thanks....

[UMHS]

The University is developing at just about the pace that we want it to. We have now hired chairpersons and faculty in Physiology, Biochemistry and the Anatomical Sciences. You can go to our website (Welcome - UMHS (http://www.valuemd.com/adsadmin/adclick.php?bannerid=53&zoneid=0&source=&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fumhs-sk.org%2F)) for more information about these people.

The only construction necessary at this time is the Gross Anatomy/Neuroscience Lab. The footings have been poured and the cement block is rising. The Director of Facilities tells me that it will be done by the start of the first class in May.

We did not need any other new construction but we did convert some space on the campus of IUON into office space for UMHS administration and faculty. That space only needs telephone lines and furniture to be ready for the faculty when they arrive in March.

The campus has enough classroom space to accommodate the medical students, even without the Anatomy/Neuroscience Lab. Each of the classrooms is fitted with state of the art technology so that professors can use almost any mode of instruction they want, from the old workhorse, PowerPoint, to digitalizeed histology slides. Chairpersons who have visited the campus have been very happy with the Human Simulations Labs and are already excited about the prospects that it holds.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, the paperwork for registration on FAIMER/IMED has been submitted. Registration will allow us to finalize many of the clinical sites with whom we have been negotiating. It is still too early to release much information about these sites but I think you can plan on seeing "greenbook" sites that are located in areas that will accommodate MOST of the regions from which our students come.

I think that UMHS is progressing at about the pacee that most of us expected and will be ready for students in time to welcome the inaugural class in May, 2008.

[redar]

Hello to the UMHS ,
Hi i'm an Israeli student which studied 2 years in a medical school in hungary, and i would like to know if it's possible to transfer to the UMHS school 2nd year .
As i said i'm an Israeli , and therefore i didn't do any MCAT exam , is this a problem ?
I have many other questions , but in the mean time those are my questions for now .
I hope to hear from you soon .

thank you for all the help

s-

[mellsworth21]

Thanks for the update. It sounds that everything is going well.

[UMHS]

Please see the thread "Transferring in". Your question was answered there yesterday. There is also additonal information about transferring in which you did not request but you may still find it useful.

[Conway]

Have any of the second or third term professors been hired, such as Genetics, Neuro, etc? If the school is accepting transfer students, I am assuming that these professors will be ready when they come in?

Also, it says somewhere in the school's description that the curriculum is modeled under "Problem-Based Learning". Is this the case, or is it only for certain small portions of classes?

[UMHS]

We have focused most of our recruiting on the Chairs for Departments that have classes in the first semester and faculty in those courses. Some of these people can teach second semester courses as well. We have carried on negotiations with many faculty that may teach in the second and even third semester courses but, for the most part, we have not made arrangments for them to arrive much before the semester in which they will teach. (They will, however, arrive in plenty of time to coordinate their classes with the other faculty who will be teaching related material.)

A second semester student who wants to transfer would have to be considered on a case-by-case basis to see if we can reasonably meet their needs. I think it is safe to say that we will not be accepting third or fourth semester students until at least January 2009.

You asked what portion of the curriculum will be case-based or problem-based learning. At the moment, I cannot give an accurate percentage because the faculty have not met to coordinate the curriculum. (This should take place in March 2008.) What I can tell you is that every department chair has made a point to ask about this mode of learning and to lobby forcefully for its inclusion into the curriculum. In addition, several of the faculty have a distinct interest in using human simulators in their teaching. From the beginning, the Dean and others will also incorporate clinical correlations into the basic sciences as well. It's our opinion that this form of teaching will help the students to understand the importance of the basic sciences to the clinical ones, to rely on comprehension rather than shear memorization, to learn the importance of life-long learning and to develop their critical thinking skills from the beginning of their medical education.

[rokshana]

i want to commend the way UMHS is going about things (VASTLY different from CMU!)!!!!

the offical here seems very realistic about the timeline of things occurring and is forthright with information.

gl- i would imagine having Dr. Ross as part of the administration will help- at least he knows what it takes and that everything doesn't occur overnight.

[stevecwood]

As the new chair of physiology at UMHS-SK, I will be happy to answer any questions prospective students might have about me and the physiology curriculum. I plan to quickly build a physiology department that emphasizes quality teaching, testing based on learning objectives, active learning including problem based learning and human patient simulators and a cadre of excellent visiting and permanent faculty.

[DOCplucinski]

i want to commend the way UMHS is going about things (VASTLY different from CMU!)!!!!

the offical here seems very realistic about the timeline of things occurring and is forthright with information.

gl- i would imagine having Dr. Ross as part of the administration will help- at least he knows what it takes and that everything doesn't occur overnight.
i'll agree with that one, CMU was very scary...this is the correct way to strart a school