Phase 2: Clinical Clerkships

Phase 2 is the moment students step fully into supervised clinical practice - building confidence, clinical reasoning, and professional identity through immersive clerkships supported by four integrated two-week intersessions. Students learn to provide value-added care, apply foundational science at the bedside, and function effectively within teams and healthcare systems as their responsibilities increase.

Clerkship Dyads

Students complete four dyads, each pairing two core disciplines to create integrated, longitudinal learning. A typical example (sequence varies by student preference) includes:

• Family Medicine (4 weeks) + Surgery (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine (8 weeks) + Neurology (2 weeks)
• Pediatrics (5 weeks) + Psychiatry (5 weeks)
• Obstetrics & Gynecology (6 weeks) + Research (4 weeks)

Each clerkship provides a blend of inpatient and outpatient care, mentorship from faculty and residents, hands-on skills development, and broad exposure to patient populations and health conditions.

What Students Learn in Phase 2

Students develop the habits, skills, and professional perspectives needed to contribute meaningfully to patient care.

Clinical Readiness & Patient Care

Students develop core clinical skills—patient interviewing, physical examination, diagnostic reasoning, management planning, and communication—while caring for diverse patients in inpatient and outpatient settings. They learn to connect foundational science to clinical decisions and contribute meaningfully to team-based care.

Systems Thinking & Teamwork

Through integrated learning experiences, students learn to navigate clinical systems, identify safety concerns, understand social and structural determinants of health, and use interprofessional communication strategies that support effective, equitable care.

Professional Identity Formation

Phase 2 deepens students’ development as Master Adaptive Learners, Scientist Physicians, and System Citizens. Through feedback, reflection, and progressively complex responsibilities, learners strengthen adaptive expertise, habits of inquiry, and professionalism in real clinical environments.

Integrative Intersession Learning

Intersession graphic

Between clerkships, intersessions reinforce skills common to all specialties - clinical reasoning, communication, procedural skills, systems awareness, and reflective practice - while spiraling concepts from foundational science, HSSIP, and research into clinical application.

Intersessions are designed to:

• Strengthen skills required for value-added participation in clerkships
• Reinforce higher-order competencies such as systems thinking, reflective practice, interprofessional collaboration, and ethical reasoning
• Integrate concepts across clerkships through case-based, experiential learning
• Prepare students progressively for advanced clinical responsibilities and internship readiness