Medical Student Education

About Our Medical Student Education

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Practice of Medicine

Practice of Medicine (POM) is the new yearlong state-of-the-art clinical skills course for entering Harvard Medical students. It is integrated closely with concurrent basic science courses and has four main components:

1. a mentored, longitudinal primary care experience;
2. a robust interviewing and communication skills curriculum;
3. a physical diagnosis curriculum with multiple bedside and outpatient encounters with real patients; and
4. monthly sessions that foster reflection and professional development.

Key Faculty:

• Anita Vanka, MD: HMS Co-Course Director and BIDMC Site Course Director
• Kelly Ford, MD: BIDMC Co-Site Director
• Kate Wrenn, MD: BIDMC Associate Site Course Director
• Neal Biddick, MD: BIDMC Associate Site Course Director

Medicine Clerkships

Approximately one-third of Harvard Medical Students complete their third-year Medicine Clerkship.

• Clerkship Director: Amy Weinstein, MD, MPH
• Associate Director: Anita Vanka, MD

Subinternship

The Subintern-Resident Service (SIRS) is a highly-rated month long inpatient experience that prepares students for internship. The SIRS service is designed to allow students to learn to evaluate and manage patients with complicated medical problems under the supervision of house staff and medical attending staff. Students are expected to function in a more independent manner than in Core Medicine I and to assume more direct responsibility for patient care. Each SIRS team likely consists of one resident and two subinterns, as well as a member of the attending staff. The Core Medicine II students, acting essentially as interns, work directly with the resident on the team.

• Co-director: Vilas Patwardhan, MD