Campus Report

October 2011

School of Medicine Entrance and Lobby Renovations Complete!
Construction was completed on renovations to the School of Medicine entrance in lobby just in time to welcome the Class of 2015 as they arrived on campus for the White Coat Ceremony and Welcoming Reception. More space is now available in the lobby for students to meet and study. View photos of the updates below.

June 2011

School of Medicine Entrance and Lobby Renovations Coming in September 2011
Beginning after commencement weekend the School of Medicine entrance and lobby became a construction zone as renovations to the school are completed. The lobby renovations will include a coffee shop and more space for students to gather. Improvements are scheduled to be finished in time for the White Coat Ceremony and Welcoming Reception on August 8th. Below are artist’s renderings of the completed entrance way and lobby.
Click on each image below to view a larger version of each rendering.

January 2011

Alumni Share Their Memories of Living in the South End

David Babin ’62 writes:
First year was spent in Worcester Court int the AKK medical fraternity house. Marriage ended that, so I moved to Cmbridge, across the street from the Holy Ghost hospital. I commuted on an NSU motorcycle, until our first child was born, when I moved into BU graduate student housing on Buswell Street, which was primarily for Divinity students. However, the Divinity School powers that be decided the only way their students could be urged into practice parishes was to limit all students’ stay in the housing to two years or less, so we moved to Queensbury Street, where, along with Sylvia and Carter Tallman, we lived with welfare recipients, a prostitute, a long haul truck driver, and a nice career naval officer and his wife. The military couple was active in their church choir, and we baby-sat their son, when it was their turn to have the choir over for post-practice snacks. We couldn’t understand why their classical music was turned to such a high volume. They were very apologetic when they told us later on that the prostitute was having an orgy in the apartment next store. Loud music made the other sounds inaudible. We and our infant daughter survived. It all made those long ago years memorable. What ever happened to the Alpha Kappa Kappa Medical Fraternity? The national charter restricted it to Caucasions, but one of our officers, Art Lee, was African-American. When the visitors from the main office inspected us, they were told that Art stayed, and if they didn’t like it they could place their national charter where it could only be seen with a colooscope. They relented, and went back to whatever Neanderthal environment was their un-natural habitat.

David Jackson ’58 writes:
My South End in the 1950s looked like none of your pictures. I lived for a time on the 4th floor of a dilapidated apartment building with another medical student and a scrawny, somewhat mean cat. It was across the street from the Boston City Hospital entrance in a definitely rundown and unsafe section of the city. I saw very little of the neighborhood since I quickly zipped from my apartment entrance right into the hospital, where I spent most of my time. Now, however, I have been back and seen the tremendous improvement in the area that looked so bad when I was there. I hope the present medical students are aware how lucky they are to have the current surrounding scenario around their medical school. Actually, medical school was so interesting and so busy for me, that the city surroundings didn’t figure very importantly to me in actuality; at least it didn’t seem so to me when I was there.

Shirley Klein ’68 writes:
I was there a long time ago. We lived the first year at Franklin Square House (women under 21 were required to live in approved housing), now it is apartments or condominiums. Groups of medical students used to walk along Washington Street. A favorite restaurant was the Red Fez, I don’t know if it is the same restaurant/owner that was there in the 1960s. I have been back for a few reunions, walked along Washington Street with my husband last time because we stayed in a downtown hotel. The neighborhood seems more alive (artists, street fairs) and safer for walking than it did when I was a student. It also seems smaller, but the whole city seems smaller viewed in perspective of years of moves and travels.

Walter McLean ’60 writes:
I had to live in a $5.00 a week room in a brownstone on Worcester Court when I was at BUSM. A prostitute lived on the first floor, 2 old drunks on the second floor and I lived in the bowling alley like room on the third floor. Now that was an experience the new students will not get!

November 2010

South End, Boston Neighborhood
The South End has seen many changes over the years and for alot of School of Medicine alumni it is an entirely different place now from when they lived here while attending BUSM. Below are photos showcasing the neighborhood as it currently exists. After viewing the photos please share your comments and memories of your time in the South End in the space below.

Photos by Marie Turley, Alumni Association staff

September 2010

The Incoming Class of 2014

The following is an excerpt from the welcome address given by Dr. Robert Witzburg ‘77, Associate Dean for Admissions, at the White Coat Ceremony and Welcoming Reception. It highlights the incoming Class of 2014 through several statistical attributes, painting a picture of the population present at BUSM today.

There are 178 of you in this, the 162nd entering class of our medical school. You are drawn from a pool of 11,339 candidates and you come to us by way of 6 different entry pathways and 81 undergraduate institutions. 52% of you are women. 41 of you, almost ¼ of the class, hold a graduate degree at the Masters level or above, and several of you have more than one. Some of you did your graduate work in our own Division of Graduate Medical Sciences or in our School of Public Health, but many other fine institutions are also represented in your educational credentials. 19 of you plan to complete a dual degree program, and a number of you are still contemplating adding the MPH, PhD, or MBA to your program of studies.

Academically you are among the most accomplished classes we have ever had, and you are also among the most diverse groups in our history. You are diverse in many ways: 30 of the 50 states in America are represented in this class and the list of your places of birth includes 17 countries. You range in age from 19 to 31 years old, 107 of you speak more than 1 language and, as a group, you speak a total of more than 27 different languages. 17% of you are under-represented minorities. A number of you have parents and grandparents in medicine, while others of you are the first member of an extended family to attend college. In cultural, social, economic, racial, ethnic, educational, and linguistic terms, and in your life experiences, you define the pluralism that we so value in our society.

Click here to return to the White Coat Ceremony and Welcoming Reception event page.

June 2010

Library Renovations
Written by Mary Hopkins. A full article about the library renovations will be featured in the summer issue of Campus and Alumni News

Stepping off the elevators on the 12th floor of the Instructional building opens up a new landscape for patrons of the BUSM Alumni Medical Library. The entry to the Library is bright and welcoming. The soothing sage green of the walls and furniture adds to the light and modern look of the space.

“The goal was to create a more welcoming and comfortable studying and learning environment for the students,” said Mary Blanchard, director of library services. “We repurposed the space to make it more student-centered, removing several stacks of books and periodicals and installing new laptop/study tables, comfortable seating, study carrels along the walls, and fixed computer tables.” With increased numbers of students enrolled in programs on the medical campus, expanding and providing more options for study space was also a major factor in the renovation, according to Blanchard. The Library also provides services to students in the Schools of Dental Medicine and Public Health.

“I didn’t think I was going to like it because I thought it might be too modern,” said Shamini Mylvaganam ’13. “But the library is so bright now and the new desks make studying easier. There is so much more room to study.”

The laptop/study tables and carrels are powered for laptop use. A new single-service circulation and reference desk has freed up significant additional space for student use. And what were once offices on the 13th floor have now been converted into quiet study rooms for students.

“Our mission at BUSM is the educational, intellectual, professional and personal development of our students,” said Dean Karen Antman. “The Library is an integral resource for them and their growth. The renovations to the Library were carried out to provide a facility that meets the needs of a modern academic medical center.”

March 2010
Educational Experiences of a BUSM Medical Student of Today: Clinical Skills and Simulation Center

The Clinical Skills and Simulation Center was introduced to the School of Medicine in 2003 by John McCahan, the former Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. It is equipped with innovative learning tools and provides space for students to practice their clinical skills while being observed by classmates and instructors. Amenities of the center include:

• 11 traditional examination rooms and an operating room-sized space.
• Rooms are equipped with video and audio equipment that feeds into an observation area.
• One-way mirrors for student observation by large groups.
• A laparoscopy simulator designed for the Department of Surgery.
• Male and female pelvic, breast and chest simulators that enhance student examination practice.
• The SimMan, an exciting apparatus the School of Medicine recently purchased with the generous support of a donor. Previously, students shared this dynamic tool with the BMC Department of Medicine.

The SimMan is a full body simulator, complete with heart and lung sounds, pulses, EKG tracings, and the ability to speak. With the SimMan’s ability to offer real-time reaction with lifelike anatomy and clinical functionality, this tool gives BUSM a tremendous advantage over many other medical colleges.

December 2009

Medical Student Lounge Renovated Thanks to Alumni Donor
School of Medicine student government representative Dan Kirshenbaum ’11 captured these before and after photos of the medical student lounge, located on the bottom floor of the School of Medicine. Students enjoy relaxing, watching television, playing ping pong and other stress relieving activities here in this private space for medical students. Creature comforts has been nationally acknowledged as a necessary compliment to the stresses of medical school. Lee Bryan Silver ’82 stepped forward to fund this project. School fundraising efforts have brought the renovation of the student lounge and alumni medical library, while plans for a new student residence on campus continue to move forward.

Before:

After:

Curriculum Revisions at BUSM
The curriculum at the School of Medicine has seen many changes throughout the years. In this age of digital information, educational techniques that taught decades of students have been replaced. Modern equipment like the SimMan, a mechanical dummy, allows for the simulation of human patients for diagnoses and procedures. Further, this year’s graduating class was the last to use light microscopes and glass slides.

Histology and physiology curricula have been arranged so that first year students use an organ-based approach to learning. They also experience an anatomy lab that is supplemented by whole body CAT scans of cadavers using radiology computer programs.

Starting with the Class of 2011, the curriculum for second year students changed to a new integrated system based on year-long courses that incorporate basic science topics within clinical topic modules. This curriculum style permits students to begin to think and learn like physicians, and it allows every student to explore their interests, strengths and possible career paths.

Third and fourth year curriculum changes include moving the four-week ambulatory medicine and surgical sub-specialties from the third to the fourth year, and a four-week elective time has been added to the third year curriculum.

Curriculum changes address AAMC initiatives, meet LCME standards, incorporate different teaching modalities to accommodate the variety of student learning styles, complement students’ acquisition of and ability to use basic science, clinical knowledge and clinical skills, and address feedback garnered from the Graduate Questionnaire.

Excerpts from this piece have been taken from a curriculum presentation given recently by Sharon Levine, MD, the Dean of Medical Education, with help from Deborah Vaughan, PhD, Stephanie Oberhaus, PhD and Jodi Abott, MD.

Click here to visit the Academic Affairs website and view more curriculum information.