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Internal Medicine Interest Group of the Month: University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

The Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (URSMD) seeks to give medical students exposure to the world of internal medicine and its various subspecialties. This exposure comes in many forms, including monthly meetings highlighting each of the major medicine subspecialties, which facilitate the interaction of specialists with students who are interested in their fields.

The high level of interest in internal medicine at URSMD is well illustrated by the residency choices of last year's graduating class. Twenty two out of ninety-eight (22.4%) graduating medical students went into internal medicine, medicine/pediatrics, or an internal medicine subspecialty, some 3% higher than the national average.

The commitment of students to internal medicine is also evident in their participation in research within the field. Recently, Kofi Mensah, one of the co-coordinators of the IMIG, received first place in the Medical Student Poster Competition in the research category at the ACP Upstate New York Scientific Meeting for his research, "The Potential Role for IFN-alpha Therapy in Erosive Arthritis." At the same competition, fourth-year student Heather Huang won first place in the Public Policy & Advocacy Category (a combined Associate and medical student competition) for her work entitled, "Factors Affecting Mexican Migrant Workers' Health Care Choices in the U.S."

Members of the URSMD IMIG were integral in the planning of the school's annual Primary Care Week, which took place in mid-October. The event, overseen by the school's chapter of the American Medical Students Association, featured daily lunchtime lectures and discussions focusing on health literacy. The IMIG leadership team helped coordinate a well-attended interactive lecture about the specific health literacy needs of urban communities. The week was capped off by a Health Literacy Carnival at a local elementary school with which the medical school has ties. Again, IMIG leaders helped plan the event, and a cadre of members ran a successful booth that let the young students practice their baseball skills after answering questions regarding healthy diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices.

The coordinators of the IMIG seek to provide ACP Medical Student Members with high-quality lectures from the URSMD medicine faculty. The monthly lectures, by both primary care physicians and subspecialists, provide students with a taste of the breadth and diversity of specialties found in the medicine sphere. The topics are chosen to parallel areas of study within the basic science curriculum. This month we are featuring a lecture by a pulmonary and critical care specialist. We hope that this and future programs will allow students to integrate basic science material with the art of clinical medicine, in accordance with Rochester's biopsychosocial tradition.

Zachary Borus, Elton Lambert, Kofi Mensah, and Sydney Montesi
URSMD IMIG Co-Coordinators, Class of 2008
E-mail addresses: zachary_borus@urmc.rochester.edu, elton_lambert@urmc.rochester.edu, kofi_mensah@urmc.rochester.edu, sydney_montesi@urmc.rochester.edu

Back to December 2005 Issue of IMpact

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