Gibbon Surgical Review
Article Title
A Student’s Perspective On JeffMD
Abstract
Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) as a whole, have undergone a rapid flurry of changes in the last five years, including a merger with PhillyU, the incorporation of new hospitals such as Abington, Aria and Virtua, and (of course) new students to add to the largest alumni network of medical professionals in the country. Perhaps the biggest change for the medical school has been the implementation of the new curriculum affectionately dubbed “JeffMD.” As a first-year student, participating in JeffMD has felt like an opportunity to both receive a high-quality medical training while also having great say in what the new curriculum will look like for future students. Overall, the opportunity to participate in this experiment has yielded both great results and continuing challenges. As a person interested in surgery, I have come to appreciate some of the changes the curriculum has made to SKMC’s medical education, which I discuss in this piece, and aim to highlight both JeffMD’s areas of excellence and future growth with a focus on how its changes could impact future surgeons.