Md-PhD Program at Yale

Transcript

• 00:04Physician scientists are unique because
• 00:07they've spent a long time
• 00:09observing
• 00:10the unknown
• 00:12and trying to learn how
• 00:13to solve mysteries and problems.
• 00:15So what I hope is
• 00:16that when they become physicians
• 00:18taking care of patients that
• 00:19they'll bring that scientific approach
• 00:21to each patient.
• 00:27Our MD PhD students make
• 00:29up about twenty percent of
• 00:31our entering MD class. So
• 00:33they're a real presence in
• 00:35the university.
• 00:36Our medical school is embedded
• 00:38in our research enterprise So
• 00:40the students are learning from
• 00:41physician scientists,
• 00:43being mentored by physician scientists,
• 00:45and seeing a lot of
• 00:46other
• 00:47peers who are basically engaged
• 00:49in the kind of work
• 00:50that they hope to do.
• 00:53I think what really
• 00:55sets a program apart is
• 00:56the quality of the mentorship
• 00:58and the quality of the
• 00:59peer connection.
• 01:00In terms of mentors, physician
• 01:02scientist mentors at Yale are
• 01:03all over the place, spanning
• 01:05every department.
• 01:06And they're really invested in
• 01:07trainee success.
• 01:09I've been pretty impressed by
• 01:11the fact that in the
• 01:12first year,
• 01:13the people who are actually
• 01:14giving our med school lectures
• 01:15are people at the forefront
• 01:17of their field.
• 01:18And it's impressive that they
• 01:19give away their time to
• 01:21people who are so early
• 01:22in their career like us.
• 01:23But I think that allows
• 01:24us to like really jump
• 01:25ahead.
• 01:26Not all institutions have this.
• 01:28Right? Not all institutions are
• 01:29this collaborative and this sort
• 01:31of invested really in the
• 01:32learning and in the scientific
• 01:34quest. And, it something that's
• 01:36very special about this place.
• 01:42Our MD PhD program is
• 01:44a little bit unusual because
• 01:45not only do we have
• 01:46students who are pursuing their
• 01:48PhDs within the school of
• 01:49medicine
• 01:50in the biomedical
• 01:51and biological
• 01:52sciences.
• 01:53But we also have students
• 01:54who are doing their degrees
• 01:56in biomedical engineering. Right? Not
• 01:58so far fetched, but we
• 01:59have students completing PhDs in
• 02:01applied mathematics,
• 02:03physics,
• 02:04chemistry.
• 02:05We have students in the
• 02:06school of public health but
• 02:07also doing their PhDs in
• 02:09social sciences, history of science
• 02:11and medicine,
• 02:12anthropology and even economics and
• 02:14religious studies.
• 02:16So this is an incredible
• 02:17breadth
• 02:18of PhD disciplines.
• 02:20And I think that for
• 02:21the students who are in
• 02:22our program, it creates this
• 02:24idea that a physician scientist
• 02:26can really touch
• 02:27on medicine in so many
• 02:29levels.
• 02:30I think a lot of
• 02:31the uniqueness in the MD
• 02:32PhD program comes from, something
• 02:35we call the Yale system
• 02:36in the MD curriculum.
• 02:38The Yale system basically is
• 02:40this educational philosophy that says,
• 02:42alright. If we've admitted you
• 02:43to this program, you're
• 02:45a professional adult learner, and
• 02:46you have all these incredible
• 02:48resources around you. It should
• 02:49be left up to you,
• 02:51to decide what's the best
• 02:52way I can make use
• 02:53of those resources.
• 02:56It's very much not cutthroat
• 02:59at all, which is unusual
• 03:01for a medical school in
• 03:02general, much less one of
• 03:04Yale caliber.
• 03:06And
• 03:07they really want us to
• 03:08work together and kind of
• 03:10explore our own interests,
• 03:12And they do that by
• 03:14not ranking us and
• 03:16also
• 03:17encouraging us to kind of
• 03:19follow
• 03:20what we like and not
• 03:22just what's going to be
• 03:23on a test.
• 03:25I think if you have
• 03:26a high degree of agency,
• 03:27it's the best place for
• 03:29you. You can kind
• 03:31of walk any sort of
• 03:32path that you want to
• 03:33do here, and
• 03:34the administration and, like, other
• 03:36teachers are kind of excited
• 03:38to see him as someone
• 03:38who's gung ho and, like,
• 03:39has a little bit of
• 03:40fire in their eyes to
• 03:41pick up a project that
• 03:42they're really interested in.
• 03:45That's the excitement for me
• 03:46is is that when you
• 03:47when you leave students to
• 03:47their own devices, they often
• 03:48come up with things that
• 03:49no one has thought of
• 03:50before.
• 03:51And then it's like you're
• 03:52within this ecosystem where it's
• 03:53like, oh yeah, we can
• 03:54get you all the resources
• 03:55that you need need to
• 03:55really develop that into something
• 03:57that's going to have an
• 03:58impact in the world.
• 03:59And,
• 04:00yeah, it wouldn't it wouldn't
• 04:01happen, right, if we were
• 04:02trying
• 04:03to really top down control
• 04:05what was going on because
• 04:06because we need to let
• 04:07creative people be creative.
• 04:10This program
• 04:11for me is
• 04:13meant to teach people
• 04:16how to be scientists
• 04:18so that they'll use these
• 04:19skills to do research throughout
• 04:21their career.
• 04:23I want people who are
• 04:24constantly going to question,
• 04:26be curious,
• 04:28not settle for what we
• 04:29already have, but aspire for
• 04:31something better for the patients
• 04:33that they take care of.