Overview

The mission of the M.D. program is to provide medical students with the educational foundation for careers characterized by clinical excellence, a strong commitment to human values, a strong sense of collegiality, and scientific curiosity and rigor. The M.D. program is the first phase in the education of a physician; it is followed by a period of post graduate residency training, and culminates in the life-long learning required of all physicians.

The M.D. program at EVMS is designed to educate compassionate and skillful physician-scientists, with a special emphasis on preparation for residency training and careers in the primary care and other medical disciplines.

Excellence in patient care requires a firm foundation in the medical sciences, highly developed clinical skills, a well developed attitude of empathy and compassion and skills in clinical problem solving. EVMS seeks to educate physicians with the knowledge and skills to diagnose and treat illness, to advise patients on the pursuit and maintenance of good health and to appreciate how illness affects the lives of their patients.

The very rapid advances in medical knowledge and the rapid development and deployment of new technologies require that physicians not only have accurate and comprehensive current medical knowledge, but also that they have the skills to rapidly obtain, evaluate and assimilate new knowledge. EVMS seeks to educate physicians skilled in scientific inquiry, clinical reasoning and clinical problem solving. With these goals in mind, the EVMS curriculum is designed to:

• Provide a firm foundation in medical science and clinical skills

• Understand and utilize the best available medical evidence in addressing medical problems

• Cultivate habits of independent learning and scholarship

• Help students recognize and accept the broad social and economic responsibilities of members of the medical profession

• Encourage the development of self-awareness and communication skills

• Emphasize human values in the practice of medicine

The M.D. program at EVMS is a carefully sequenced and integrated curriculum of basic and clinical sciences which continues through all four years of study, designed to achieve competency in all areas relevant to the general professional education of the physician. The curriculum stresses not only the acquisition of knowledge, but its analysis, synthesis and integration. The curriculum includes interdisciplinary themes that continue over the entire four-year period such as medical ethics, information technology, clinical skills, community medicine, geriatrics and medical professionalism.

Students are expected to participate as active learners throughout the curriculum. Teaching and learning methods include lectures, small group study, clinical instruction, conferences, and extensive use of a nationally recognized Professional Skills Center. Student progress is assessed regularly.

The curriculum includes interdisciplinary themes that continue over the entire four-year period such as medical ethics, information technology, clinical skills, community medicine, geriatrics, and medical professionalism.

At the conclusion of their four years at EVMS, our graduates are fully prepared to begin the next phase of their training. EVMS graduates have been highly successful as resident physicians in virtually every medical and surgical specialty, and have gone on to careers as respected and successful physicians in Hampton Roads, in Virginia, and throughout the United States.