200 University of Miami med grads have residencies waiting

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is preparing for the graduation of its first NextGenMD curriculum medical students.

Launched during the pandemic in 2020, NextGenMD focuses on case-based and small-group learning, early clinical skills, community involvement, mentorship and skill sets beyond the medical degree. On May 11, 200 of its first graduating physicians are set to cross the stage.

“The way medical school works are typically for the first two years students are largely in the classroom and then subsequent two years largely in clinicals, but what we wanted to do is change that model,” said Dr. Gauri Agarwal, UM Miller School of Medicine’s associate dean of curriculum, “and work with them in the direction where the first year is really the foundational year where our students learn a lot of core scientific principles and then we go right into clinicals in the second year and have an early start in seeing patients, and in the third and fourth year continue to see more and more patients.”

Medical students complete their medical education in phases. The first phase is a student-led, faculty-facilitated case-based collaborative approach to learning foundational sciences. Students’ curriculum includes early clinical experiences serving as patient navigators and learning emergency medical skills. They are mentored and coached throughout this phase by Longitudinal Clinical Educators.

In phase two, students are then introduced to four integrated clinical clerkships with standardized patient programs to assist students in developing core clinical skills. Phase three is when advanced clinical and integrated science courses are implemented, which include a sub-internship, integrated science selective and critical care selective.

Besides scoring higher passing rates on their national exams compared to the rest of the country (Step 1 and Step 2 exams), the graduating class of 2024 also earned a 100% final match rate and will be attending residency programs throughout the country, Dr. Agarwal added.

Students also go through “Scholarly Concentration” courses, which guide students into a pathway of emphasis or a dual-degree program and the “Medicine as a Profession” course, which helps students to develop into highly skilled, empathetic and thoughtful physicians.

“The curriculum as a whole is very different because our school is one of the top in the country in producing students who have a secondary degree. We’re talking about Ph.D.s and MBAs,” Dr. Agarwal explained. “80 Of the 200 in this class (2024), have a second degree as well.”