Medical School/MD Curriculum

Please refer to the Medical School Handbook for greater detail on the MD curriculum.

Year 1

• Arts and Science of Medicine and Longitudinal Clinical Experience

• Structures

• Pathology

• Immunology

• Physiology

• Medical Microbiology

Year 2

• Courses

  • Arts and Science of Medicine and Longitudinal Clinical Experience

  • Brain and Behavior

  • Cardiovascular

  • Pulmonary

  • Gastrointestinal

  • Musculoskeletal

  • Hematology

  • Obstetrics, Gynecology Genitourinary

  • Endocrine

  • Renal

• Step 1 Dedicated Study Time

Year 3

Curriculum combines clinical rotations in core clinical areas with 10 weeks of elective time for career exploration. The schedule is comprised of four 12-week modules.

• Module 1 - Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gyn and Elective

• Module 2 - Inpatient Medicine and Ambulatory Care Geriatrics

• Module 3 - Surgery/Anesthesiology and Elective

• Module 4 - Neurology and Psychiatry and Elective

Year 4

Curriculum is made of up 10 blocks, which are designed to prepare students for residency training.

• Block 1 - Step 3 CK Board Review

• Block 2 - Surgery Sub-Internship

• Block 3 - Research Elective

• Block 4 - Emergency Medicine Clerkship

• Block 5 - Body Imaging Elective

• Block 6 - Flextime for Interviews/Electives

• Block 7 - Away Elective

• Block 8 - Global Health Elective

• Block 9 - Intro to Internship

• Block 10 - Simulation Elective

Medical School Years 3 and 4 (M3 & M4)

MD/PhD students who return to the third year of medical school must complete the same clinical requirements as other medical students during a period of two years that includes a significant amount of elective time. The clinical clerkships take advantage of ISMMS’s superb facility and the diversity of experience provided by our affiliated hospitals - e.g. Elmhurst, Bronx VA, North General, Queens General, St. Barnabas-NJ, Englewood, Cabrini, etc. - as well as in the community settings, physicians’ practice groups, and ISMMS’s own outpatient settings. That assignment is usually by lottery, but MD/PhD students who have a Program-related reason to request a specific rotation will be accommodated. Careful planning, in consultation with the clinical advisors and MD/PhD leadership, will afford students the smoothest transition back to clinical medicine. Some flexibility also exists so that elective time may be shifted to the beginning of an academic year to allow an MD/PhD student to finish up experimental or dissertation work. Thus, students may enter clerkships at various times until September. Many students will have completed the requirements without loss of any or a substantial amount of clinical elective time. They may, and often do, choose to spend some of that elective time in the laboratory, continuing offshoots of their projects. Other students have used a portion of their elective time during the final phase of the MSTP to explore research programs elsewhere, e.g., at the NIH. Students entering the fourth MD year should investigate the USMLE time limit set by some states for taking USMLE Step 2. Students should check the USMLE website (www.usmle.org) for further details including verification of USMLE registration. MD/PhD students should refer to the Medical Student Handbook for further details on the USMLE, information on clinical career choices and residency programs.

For more information, please refer to the Medical Student Handbook.