Georgetown University School of Medicine

Georgetown University School of Medicine (GUSOM) is Georgetown University's medical school, and part of the Georgetown University Medical Center. It is located on the University's main campus in Washington, DC. Opened in 1851, Georgetown's School of Medicine provides a comprehensive approach to medical education, always with an eye to the Jesuit ideal of cura personalis, or "care of the whole person." As one of the most selective medical schools in the country, the School of Medicine is consistently ranked in US News and World Report's top 50 graduate programs at research universities. Committed to training physicians in all dimensions of the delivery of humane patient care, the School of Medicine works in association with the 407-bed Georgetown University Hospital and nine affiliated federal and community hospitals in the Washington metropolitan area. Georgetown medical students consistently match into top medical schools around the country for their residency programs.

10,642 applicants applied for the School of Medicine's 190 available slots. The average science GPA of incoming students is 3.6, with a mean MCAT score of 10.4. Tuition is $39,957 for the 2006-2007 first year class. In 2006-07, 85% of Georgetown medical students received financial aid. The School of Medicine allows students to pursue joint degrees with the MD program, such as: MD/PhD, MD/MBA, MD/MS (only the MS in Biohazardous Threat Agents and the MS in Complementary/Alternative Medicine are allowed for this pairing).

Among many other contributions to medicine, the technology for the newly developed HPV vaccine was generated primarily by a team of Georgetown University Medical Center researchers in the early 1990s.

History
The founding of Georgetown's School of Medicine was the result of the progressive spirit of the University directors and professional rivalries of District of Columbia physicians. Some of the local doctors had monopolized the clinical facilities of the Washington Infirmary. Four of the excluded practitioners decided to improve their position by setting up a medical school and dispensary of their own. They asked Father James Ryder, the president of Georgetown College, to regard the new enterprise as the medical department of the Jesuit institution. The request was granted, and in May, 1851, the fledgling School opened its first classes.

In 1898 the Georgetown University Hospital was established. It is currently a 609-licensed bed hospital. In 1930, classes moved to the main campus. In July 2000, Georgetown University and MedStar Health, a not for profit organization of seven Baltimore and Washington hospitals, entered into a clinical partnership to provide management of clinical care and clinical education at Georgetown University Hospital. In 2004, the School of Medicine opened the Integrated Learning Center (ILC), which supports the School of Medicine's emphasis on a patient-centered, competence-based curriculum and provides the latest methods of clinical teaching and evaluation.

Curriculum
The Georgetown University School of Medicine Faculty includes 1,470 faculty members (746 full-time) from 8 basic science and 16 clinical departments, and one center and awards MD, MD/PhD, MD/MBA, and MD/MS degrees.

The School of Medicine also allows students to pursue joint degrees with the MD program, such as: MD/PhD, MD/MBA, MD/MS (only the MS in Biohazardous Threat Agents and the MS in Complementary/Alternative Medicine are allowed for this pairing), as well as MD with a Research Track where MD students spend time in the laboratory and develop a research thesis in their specialty.

Georgetown's four-year curriculum combines departmentally based basic science courses and laboratory work, prescribed clinical clerkships, multidisciplinary courses and conferences, and electives that provide the student a well-rounded, comprehensive curriculum. The intent is to prepare students for not only the clinical and biomedical aspects of patient care, but also the social, ethical, and community-based challenges for effectively provide that care.

Courses in the first two years focus on the development of fundamental knowledge concerning the body's normal and altered structure and functions. Small-group teaching and problem-based presentations have replaced a portion of the large class lectures. Exposure to patient assessment and care along with community service and advocacy opportunities begin in the first year, and continue throughout all four years.

In the third year, clinical clerkships stress the skills required to acquire and interpret patient-based data, while the fourth year further develops skills in patient management, including rotations in ambulatory care settings. Twenty-four weeks of electives are available during this final year.

Faculty/student review of the curriculum is an important continuing endeavor of the School of Medicine. Curriculum revisions occur each year in response to student and faculty evaluations. Additional task forces are looking at how best to develop longitudinal themes throughout the curriculum that will better prepare students for the challenges facing health care, and effective and equitable health care delivery in the 21st century.

Programs

 * Anesthesia
 * Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
 * Biomathematics & Statistics
 * Cell Biology
 * Emergency Medicine
 * Family Medicine
 * Graduate Biomedical Education
 * Medicine
 * Microbiology & Immunology
 * Neurology
 * Neurosurgery
 * Obstetrics & Gynecology
 * Oncology


 * Ophthalmology
 * Orthopaedic Surgery
 * Otolaryngology
 * Pathology
 * Pediatrics
 * Pharmacology
 * Physiology & Biophysics
 * Psychiatry
 * Radiation Medicine
 * Radiology
 * Surgery
 * Urology

Campus
Georgetown University Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine, School of Nursing & Health Studies (founded in 1903), Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and its Biomedical Graduate Research Organization. In 2005, GUMC brought in $138 million in sponsored research funds, most of which was federally funded. Clinical care is provided at Georgetown University Hospital and satellite locations through a partnership with MedStar Health.