For MD students enrolled prior to Fall 2024, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers a comprehensive four-year curriculum that combines foundational scientific principles with core patient-care competencies, and extensive hands-on clinical experiences designed to provide students with a robust foundation in medical knowledge, research skills, and patient-centered care. Our curriculum additionally fosters leadership, self-directed learning, and career exploration preparing students to excel in diverse medical environments.
The four-year MD curriculum nurtures understanding of the core medical sciences and patient care, while also fostering leadership skills and encouraging individual interests. Our ultimate goal is to equip students with the knowledge and skills required for a successful and fulfilling career in medicine.
Our curriculum also includes several curricular cornerstones that further amplify personal and professional growth:
Built-in FlexTime is protected time for students to pursue self-directed learning, discovery, self-care, and leadership development opportunities. During Flex Time, students may choose to complete competency-based milestones or participate in relevant content sessions focused on themes such as mentorship, feedback, careers in medicine and science, and learning skills.
InFocus weeks are innovative and immersive courses taught through all four years of the program. Each InFocus week centers on a vital topic for medical practice and biomedical research in the twenty-first century.
Our regularly scheduled lecture series, “Frontiers in Medicine and Science,” supports the School's bench-to-bedside approach. Each session showcases cutting-edge translational biomedical research and demonstrates the real-world applications of scientific knowledge.
Nexus Learning encompasses a range of optional courses geared toward students in Years One and Two, all of which provide insight to enhance the practice of medicine. Each course enables students to deepen their knowledge in particular areas of interest—or discover an entirely new discipline—as well as to engage with faculty and other students with shared interests.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is proud to unveil ASCEND, a re-envisioned curriculum that builds on the foundation of its educational structure. ASCEND introduces a personalized and active-learning approach aimed to transform the way knowledge and clinical experiences are acquired. ASCEND embodies our commitment to elevate medical education, fostering the next generation of health care leaders through innovation, holistic development, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.
ASCEND represents a multi-year collaboration of stakeholders across the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, including students, deans, department chairs, educators, staff, and administration. As ASCEND formally launches with incoming students in the Fall of 2024, the Office of Curricular Affairs will continue providing updates and gathering feedback to further improve the rollout process.
Students begin their MD journey at the School with the Pre-Clerkship Phase, immersing themselves in the learning environment and understanding its integral role within the broader Mount Sinai Health System. During this phase, students also acquire foundational knowledge and skills essential for the practice of medicine, laying robust groundwork for their clinical and professional development. They soon engage in hands-on clinical experiences during the Clerkship Phase. The final phase, Integration and Transitions, allows students to tailor their education, exploring specialties and preparing for post-graduate training.
Throughout all phases of the ASCEND program, essential themes are integrated into the curriculum to develop critical skills for twenty-first century physicians and to serve as focal areas of curricular concentration:
Scientific and Scholarly Discovery: This area focuses on the knowledge and skills that future physicians need to engage in evidence-based medicine, evaluate innovations and discoveries in health care, and ultimately improve patient care. This curricular concentration encompasses several topics, including research methodology, biostatistics, augmented intelligence, evaluation of health science literature, and evidence-based medicine.
Patient centered advocacy: This area focuses on equipping students with the knowledge and practical skills necessary to support patients in navigating healthcare challenges, participate in shared decision-making, and address structural factors that influence health outcomes. This concentration reinforces physician-led advocacy in clinical settings, ensuring students are prepared to work within healthcare systems to improve patient care.
Leadership and Professional Identity Formation: This thread is focused on teaching students how to assume leadership and professional roles that prioritize shared obligations and expectations while valuing interprofessional relationships.
Please refer to the Medical School Handbook for greater detail on the MD curriculum.
ASCEND includes three major phases: the Pre-Clerkship Phase, the Clerkship Phase, and the Integration and Transitions Phase.
The Pre-Clerkship Phase of ASCEND supplies students with foundational knowledge in basic sciences through early clinical exposure and collaborative learning sessions. At 17 months, the Pre-Clerkship starts with acclimation and immersion sessions and progresses through a series of foundational blocks that cover core scientific principles. This is followed by organ systems-based modules that leverage a mix of didactics, workshops, and lab activities.A includes ample flexibility, allowing students to explore their own passions.
It culminates with the Periodic Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (PEAKS 1) assessment, as well as preparation for the USMLE Step 1 Licensure Examinations.
The 13-month Clerkship Phase features core clerkships in various medical fields, focusing first on acute and emergent patient care, followed by a phase dedicated to chronic disease management, health maintenance, and preventive health.
Each clerkship offers immersive experiences for our MD students. This includes real-time patient care, diagnostic skills, and inter-professional collaboration. After every six-week rotation, the Clerkship Phase also includes Coaching, Advising, Mentoring, and Preparation (CAMP) weeks that provide periods for reflection, mentorship, and self-care. This approach integrates clinical experience with guidance and wellness, ensuring continuous professional development. Elective opportunities allow students to explore areas of clinical interest further. The Clerkship Phase concludes with assigned PEAKS 2 assessment weeks, which are aimed at evaluating student competencies and readiness for the Integration and Transitions Phase.
The Integration and Transitions Phase of ASCEND spans 15 months and represents the final segment of medical education at the School. Focused on preparing students for post-graduate training, it includes a two-month Chronic Care clerkship along with other advanced clinical experiences, as well as faculty-mentored scholarly projects.
For more information, please refer to the .