Spring 2001

Message from the Dean

This fall, Stephen Leapman, MD, accepted the position of executive associate dean for educational affairs in the School of Medicine. Dr. Leapman has worked as a transplantation surgeon at IUSM, engaged in kidney and liver transplantation for the past twenty-three years.

During this time, he has devoted enormous energy and thought to medical education; most recently he led the development of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) at IUSM, which we now administer to students during their third year.

OSCE puts students in twenty-minute interview situations with pseudo patients who portray specific health problems and give the students immediate feedback and evaluation regarding their performance. The interviews allow us to formally evaluate each student's basic clinical skills, ability to solve problems and use of science to diagnose disease - competencies we've previously evaluated in patient care settings. It also gives us insight into our students' abilities as effective communicators and professionals. These qualities are among several that we have added to our formal evaluations of a student's progress.

We need to offer opportunities for students to develop the qualities we seek in physicians, and new requirements call for curricular development. We ask our students to be effective communicators; pursue personal growth; understand the social and community context of health care, and understand their role as professionals.

The Office of Medical Service-Learning was developed by Assistant Dean Patricia Keener, MD, to help them do this. In this issue, we hear from students who find professional and personal growth through community service.

The educational experience at IUSM also will be augmented by a $105 million, three-year grant from Lilly Endowment to IU for the Indiana Genomics Initiative. Some of this grant will support the School's educational mission, and will allow us to attract exceptional scholars interested in genomics. It also will support scholarship and program development in the basic, as well as medical, sciences. Visit the www.ingen.iu.edu web site to learn of new developments.

Our goal is to be recognized nationally as leaders in medical education. To this end, Steve Leapman is putting together several groups to develop a vision of what we want to be in the future and how to get there. He is also developing plans to enhance our educational research activities and the support we provide our students. All of these activities are integral to our attaining this goal.

D. Craig Brater, MD
Dean, Indiana University School of Medicine
Walter J. Daly Professor