Clinical Training

 

med students in clinic

Medical education and clinical training

The University of Minnesota Medical School curriculum integrates core basic scientific and clinical education from the start of year one. Key elements of our curriculum include:

  • Integrating basic science and clinical learning across all 4 years of medical school
  • Direct faculty feedback for ongoing student learning and improvement
  • Active, experiential learning
  • Competency-based student assessment

The result is the training of reflective, ethical, and curious practitioners whose approach to analyzing clinical problems is patient-centered, informed by literature, and considers issues across the bio-psycho-social spectrum.

Beginning in 2023, a new systems-based MD curriculum will launch. The renewed curriculum will have three phases: Foundations, Clinical Immersion, and Specialty-Specific Transitions.

The Foundations phase (1.5 years) will move through nine organ systems of the human body and explore the foundational basic and clinical science that prepares students for clinical training. The Foundations phase will also include a longitudinal MPact Health course focusing on communities that have been underserved by the health system and experience health inequities. Learn about the MD curriculum here.

The University of Minnesota Medical School is the only medical school in the Twin Cities, providing students a unique opportunity to access diverse patient communities within the entire Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Students will experience a comprehensive set of training settings at any of our many teaching hospitals and clinics while serving the area’s nearly 3.5 million inhabitants.

The Medical School fosters a spirit of collaboration that provides a unique learning opportunity for students that is unmatched in other medical schools.. Medical students at the U of MN students train alongside future nurses, dentists, public health practitioners, pharmacists and even veterinarians. Practicing physicians are part of care teams that include these other professionals working together to keep individuals and communities healthy and treating them when they are sick; the foundations for these future working relationships are established early in your training here. When it comes to curing and treating disease, we understand that “it takes a village.” In fact, this is a hallmark of our success.

University of Minnesota Medical Education web site

The medical campus and you

The University of Minnesota Medical School has focused on excellence in training physicians since its establishment in 1888. The long standing tradition of outstanding training and commitment to patient care continues to this day in its current iteration of over 3800 faculty on campuses in both Minneapolis and Duluth. Through the years the Medical School has fostered groundbreaking work in areas like cardiology and organ transplants. Today, an environment of collaboration has resulted in discoveries with very practical applications, like new ways to use stem cells in treating a lethal skin disease or to re-grow damaged heart muscles. It is this dedication to cutting-edge research and collaboration with leading professionals that allows our Medical School to provide one of the finest learning and teaching environments in the nation.

The Medical School serves as the foundation for the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center, which is comprised of the schools of medicine, dentistrypharmacypublic healthveterinary medicine, and nursing. The Clinical and Translational Science Institute provides a single point of access to resources and expertise at the University of Minnesota that supports successful clinical and translational research, including investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored studies. The CTSI is partially funded by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the NIH National Center for Research Resources.

MSTP students train and attend classes on the Minneapolis campus. You will be enrolled as full time medical student during the first two years of MD/PhD training. Medical School activities will be supplemented with research experiences, including laboratory rotations. Please explore both this site and the Medical School prospective students page to learn more about Research and the Medical School, Medical Education and Clinical Training, and the a unique clinical experience for MSTP students.

More information

MSTP student clinical experiences

During years 2-4 of PhD training all MSTP students participate in the MSTP Clinical Continuity and Mentoring Program. MSTP students work directly under the supervision of a physician-scientist mentor in a patient care clinic. This for-credit experience helps our students stay active in medicine while working towards their PhD. The intensity of the experience varies with the year of training, and students may work with a single mentor over all three years or rotate through different mentors working in different specialties.

Medical student community

The University of Minnesota Medical School admits 170 students annually into the MD Program. You will have many opportunities to engage the Medical School student community and other health science students in career development activities, social outings and service to the citizens of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.