From Jorge D Faccinetti – cofounder: After a few virtual meetings these past years, I was back at UC Berkeley/UCSF’s joint medical program for an in-person gathering with some of the brightest and most engaged medical students on the planet. This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite things to do since founding PWN, and I look forward to it every year. The joint medical program (JMP) is a fascinating initiative with an important mission, which, as stated on its website, is to provide a “unique integrated medical and research curriculum that develops outstanding physicians and collaborative changemakers with the skills to solve public health and health equity challenges and improve the wellbeing of patients and communities.” read more about the program here. This leading educational program trains future physician-leaders and equips them with a deep understanding of medicine’s social, behavioral, ethical, and human aspects. The JMP is genuinely a unique project where sections of the curriculum consist of students reviewing cases based on actual patient experiences and then having an opportunity to meet that person.
We spent an hour discussing an acromegaly case, loosely based on my experience. After a thorough review, these students interact with someone with acromegaly, in this case, me. These future physicians asked intelligent questions and probed beyond the disease state to issues of early diagnosis and the doctor-patient relationship, among others. I honestly came away with the feeling that none of these students will ever miss a case of acromegaly when they become physicians, no matter their chosen specialty.
The JMP Problem Based Learning is a groundbreaking educational effort spearheaded by Dr. Jennifer Breckler and Dr. Amin Azzam, both leading medical educators at Berkeley and UCSF.
I am looking forward to next year and hoping we can do more of this type of work. A huge thank you to Drs. Azzam and Breckler for including us in this program.
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