From far and wide,
In class of their own

Along with top-notch academic credentials, first-year students bring a wealth of diverse experience.

Collectively, the 100 members of the Class of 2005 have interned in the White House, built an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, taught math to ex-convicts, worked in emergency rooms, helped run a women’s health clinic in Armenia, conducted research on diabetes, studied insects in the marshes of Costa Rica and narrowly escaped the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Their numbers include a VISTA volunteer, a biologist, a lifeguard, an emergency medical technician and a student who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish.

This diverse and eclectic group of 46 men and 54 women came together on August 28 for their induction into the world of medicine—the donning of the white jacket that identifies them as healers. With that act came words of caution from the new chair of surgery.

“Medicine without magic, without empathy, without insight into the desires and aspirations of the individual patient,” said Robert Udelsman, M.D., M.S.B., M.B.A., “can miss the mark.”

In a talk at the White Jacket Ceremony titled “Medical Mysticism,” Udelsman invoked the symbolism of the occasion. “The white coat is but one of many tools, like the stethoscope,” he said. “It is in part a prop that has become associated with trust, faith and magic. We empower you to use these tools, to use them wisely, to use them selflessly.” Udelsman’s call for a mix of skills, knowledge and compassion echoed long-standing traditions of medical education at Yale.

And, indeed, the Yale System of Medical Education was the main appeal of the medical school for the overwhelming majority of incoming students. A report from the admissions office revealed other facts about the new class. The students’ mean age is 23.5, and their cumulative GPA is 3.74. Nearly all in the group, 96, have engaged in research or independent study in science. In the group are five students with master’s degrees, one holder of a Ph.D. degree, 49 members of minority groups, 89 science majors, and graduates of 50 colleges, with Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth and Brown leading the list.

On September 20, at a meeting of the Medical School Council, Richard A. Silverman, director of admissions, used the group’s own words from their application essays to paint a picture of the class. One student mentored learning-disabled children. Another was born in Sudan and lived in Syria, Oman and Thailand. Yet another grew up speaking English, French and an African dialect called Dida.

“Statistics,” said Thomas L. Lentz, M.D. ’64, associate dean for admissions and professor and vice chair of cell biology, “don’t reveal the remarkable accomplishments that you have made outside the classroom. These are in many different areas such as health care, research, campus government, athletics, letters, music and journalism. It is through these achievements that you demonstrate the qualities, such as leadership, creativity, motivation, independence and organization, that we are looking for in our students.”

Counsel from the council

As first-year students arrived on campus, the Medical Student Council, led by President Kavita Mariwalla, Vice President Brian Nahed and Treasurer Mariah Ruth, guided them through orientation with a series of events. The council opened the student-run used bookstore for the academic year and held a sale of used scrubs and anatomy tools. To promote some camaraderie among students in the different health professions, the council organized Olympic games with students from medicine, public health, nursing and the Physician Associate Program. Earlier in the year the council organized a second-look weekend for medical school applicants and published a guide to the medical school and New Haven for first-year students.

Fund-raising event, now a fall tradition, takes a different tack

In a break from tradition, anatomy professor William B. Stewart, Ph.D., sold his trademark bow tie this year not at the Hunger and Homelessness Auction, but at a party a few days before the gavel banged down. It was one of many subtle departures from the traditional format of an event that is now in its ninth year of raising money for New Haven charities. The “Club Med” party in Edward S. Harkness Hall, featuring the band Plato’s Cavemen, kicked off a week of auction activities that have replaced the free-standing event of years past. It netted $630, including the $210 paid for Stewart’s tie.

New activities this year also included a tag football game pitting first-years against second-years, a relocation of the silent auction to the lobby in front of the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and a new master of ceremonies, Frank J. Bia, M.D., professor of medicine (infectious disease) and laboratory medicine. Quick with a quip, Bia brought down the house more than once with his jokes about items for sale. Stewart’s offer of a beef ’n beer dinner for eight brought this from the emcee: “This just in. The CDC called this morning. They are classifying this as a level-four bioterrorist event.” When Herbert Chase, M.D., deputy dean for education, offered a behind-the-scenes tour of the Museum of Natural History in New York, Bia joked, “You don’t have to go to a faculty meeting to see dinosaurs.”

Held November 15, the auction raised $30,000 for several New Haven organizations that help the poor and the homeless. Proceeds went to New Haven Cares, Loaves and Fishes, New Haven Homeless Resource Center, Douglas House, Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Moore House Soup Kitchen and New Haven Home Recovery. This year’s highest-selling item was a weekend at second-year student Dave Aversa’s Vermont ski condo, for $1,700. Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., paid $900 for two roles in the second-year show. Silent auction items included dinners, desserts, paddling and sailing outings, rides in airplanes, works of art, 20 hours of carpentry, massages, baby-sitting and dog walking.

First-year students won the football game, 26-22, and the game raised $700 for charity. Students dedicated the game to Dean Emeritus Gerard N. Burrow, M.D. ’58, HS ’66, who has been appointed president and CEO of the Sea Research Foundation Inc., the not-for-profit organization overseeing Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. (See Alumni Notes.)

Advice from Hippocrates

Borrowing from the ancients, Charles A. Morgan III, M.D., offered advice and wisdom to the 35 graduates of the Physician Associate Program on September 10. In his commencement address in Harkness Auditorium, he delved into the Hippocratic Corpus to urge the future practitioners to care for themselves as well as for their patients, to offer their services for free at times, to avoid overwork, and to stick to the facts. “Stick to what you know and know what you don’t know,” said Morgan, an associate professor of psychiatry and research affiliate in history of medicine. “Evidence-based medicine presents the best opportunity for offering good care to people who turn to us for assistance and help.”

International scholars find their work takes on a new importance

When the Committee on International Health held its annual symposium in early October, the events of September 11 and their implications for global stability were less than a month old. The committee, however, reaffirmed its commitment to international health research. “Our program of international activities continues without interruption,” said Curtis L. Patton, Ph.D., director of the international fellowship program that sends students around the world. “Is the message clear?”

Last summer 20 students who had received Downs International Health Travel Fellowships or other funding traveled to 16 countries to conduct research on topics including the integration of traditional and Western medicine in treating pediatric cancer patients in Taiwan, birth practices in Ghana and HIV risk among abused women in South Africa.

Three students were asked to make oral presentations of their work, said committee member Serap Aksoy, Ph.D., associate professor in the division of epidemiology of microbial diseases, because their topics reflect the diversity of projects the committee considers for funding. Medical student Timothy J. Henrich explored causes of viral encephalitis in Thailand and tried to find links between the epidemiology and the environment. Maya Nambisan, a public health student, studied the population genetics of the tsetse fly, in search of a subspecies that may be the main vector for sleeping sickness. And Susan E. Martinson, a nursing student, studied maternal mortality in a rural section of Haiti.

At the symposium Byron Waksman, M.D., a founding member of the Committee on International Health, former professor and chair of microbiology, was awarded an honorary Downs fellowship by the committee for his contributions to the fellowship program and international health. “I think all of you who have gone in the direction of international health have chosen a very exciting and interesting future,” Waksman said, as he accepted the award.