Phase 1 (Years 1 and 2) - Beginning Class of 2028
Beginning during the 2024-25 academic year for the Class of 2028, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine's curriculum is shifting from blocks to semesters. During their first three semesters, students will focus on five core courses related to the four value domains: basic science, clinical science, research, and health systems science and interprofessional practice.
Click here to learn more about the curricular modifications.
Click here to open a PDF version of the 2024-25 Course Catalog.
Phase 1 - Semester 1
The first semester for students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine will begin with an orientation to the school and community. An extended Profession of Medicine & Identities (POMI) course will allow students to explore the attributes of the VTCSOM Identities through immersion into the community and clinical environment and with learning activities that help students identify and apply the habits and tools of a patient-centered physician. During this initial two-week period, learners will also be paired with coaches that will provide support for growth in self-reflective practice. The semester will follow Virginia Tech's academic calendar with an exam period and Winter Break in December.
Phase 1 - Semester 2
During the second semester, students will continue progressively developing their competencies through their core five courses. They will have a spring break in March before finishing out the semester and exams. Students will have three weeks of dedicated time to launch their mentored research study prior to Summer Break. VTCSOM has a rigorous research curriculum that helps prepare physician thought leaders as part of its mission. All students are expected to conduct original, hypothesis-driven research project before graduation. This requirement ensures that students are immersed in the language, culture, and practice of research.
Phase 1 - Semester 3
During the third semester, students will complete their core curriculum in the five courses, as well as continue to focus on their research project with a six-week dedicated period. By the end of this semester, they will be prepared to enter their clerkships and intersessions, working directly with other medical professionals to support patient care.
Phase 1 Core Courses
This course uses a clinical presentation model to embed foundational medical knowledge with clinical reasoning, skills and tools needed for development of the early medical learner. Content associated with the VTCSOM value domains of basic and clinical science are woven into the course, allowing aspects of each domain to be contextualized within a clinically realistic framework while reducing redundancy and enhancing transdisciplinary integration through team design and team teaching. IFS connects theoretical knowledge and practical application, equipping students with the tools and competencies necessary to excel as compassionate and competent healthcare professionals. The overarching goals of the course are to promote students’ learning and skill development related to patient’s concerns as they present to healthcare delivery settings and progressively develop learners’ competencies – inclusive of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors – across the continuum of Phase 1 learning and into clerkships.
This course is designed to help students learn and apply foundational health systems science and interprofessional practice (HSSIP) concepts. The overarching goals focus on bringing a systems thinking lens to the healthcare setting, informing the way a learner develops their identity as a Systems Citizen. Topic areas such as social determinants of health, population health, teaming, and US healthcare system’s structure and process are included in Phase 1 curriculum. The principles of communication, teaming, health equity, leadership, and change agency are woven into all aspects of the HSSIP curriculum.
This course is designed to facilitate professional development into the profession of medicine. In particular, the VTCSOM mission of developing a patient-centered physician who is a scientist physician, system citizen, and master adaptive lifelong learner will be pursued through all activities of the course. The overarching goals of the course are to:
- Establish foundational and shared understanding of the duties and responsibilities inherent to the practice of medicine.
- Develop and refine the master adaptive learner skillset.
- Inform and enhance the professional behaviors and practices among students.
- Provide longitudinal coaching to support accountability among learners for knowledge base development benchmarks.
- Develop and enrich learner awareness and ability to engage as a system citizen employing a systems-thinking mindset.
- Develop and enhance individual learner’s ability to integrate clinical medicine, scientific inquiry, and research.
This course is focused on fostering the professional and scholarly development of medical students into physicians who integrate clinical medicine and scientific inquiry to bridge the gap between discovery and direct patient care, with a goal of cultivating Scientist Physicians capable of making significant contributions in the emergent frontiers of medicine and skilled at using research methods in their practice. This course is designed for learners to identify elements of the scientific method and key concepts of human and animal research and inquiry necessary to practice evidence-based medicine. Skills related to the responsible code of conduct and ethical human and animal research topics will be explored. Learners design research questions and use these skills in epidemiological design. Students will be introduced to the core concepts and terminology of biostatistics and apply the principles of hypothesis-testing and accompanying analytical approaches such as regression, categorical data analysis, and non-parametric analysis to health-related research topics.
Students, working independently, will be required to formulate an original research question through application of the scientific method. Students will demonstrate skills necessary to foster scientific collaboration by synthesizing peer and faculty feedback of their research question. Working independently and in small groups, students will also be required to evaluate and critique advanced research articles from the biomedical research continuum, as well as the original approaches proposed by their peers. Finally, students will be required to apply advanced skills in navigating the health research literature to find and refer to relevant articles that support their original research question and proposed approach. The focus of Research & Inquiry is on learning and applying a process rather than producing a particular research product. Each student’s research project is “hypothesis-driven,” but the research area is “interest-driven.”