Teaching and Learning

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To achieve optimal learning conditions and top-notch clinical experiences, Harvard Medical School is thinking strategically about the state of medical education. We have new leadership to guide us as we double down on this promise. Professor of Neurology Bernard Chang was named the new dean for medical education at HMS, after an intensive national search, and assumed the role on July 31.

Chang’s vision for medical education is timely and comprehensive. He believes that HMS students should strive to transcend the traditional milestones and competencies associated with a standard medical school education, and should be inspired to stretch beyond their comfort zones. He maintains that students should be challenged and held to the highest academic standards, and that by the time they graduate, they should have a well-defined mental map of the many routes toward health care leadership. We are excited by Chang’s call for a deepened spirit of inquiry, discovery, and scholarship in our efforts to nurture the next generation of physicians.

To remain at the cutting edge of medical education, we must also envision the physician of the future, who practices in an environment rich with cognitive-support resources that are powered by AI tools. We are asking big questions: How does HMS train our medical students to thrive in the context of this new era in biomedicine? How can we prepare them to be leaders in harnessing the myriad new realities of science and technology to make medicine more effective, economical, and equitable?

We are making comprehensive and thoughtful adjustments to our curricular offerings in medical, graduate, and external education so that our students and learners are equipped to use AI models wisely and ethically. These adjustments place a high premium on the curation and verification of AI-generated knowledge so that HMS students will become proficient in employing AI algorithms. They will be trained to optimize the ability of AI to enhance diagnosis and treatment strategies while they maintain vigilance in curating and corroborating the information.

In addition to AI, other curricular changes in the Program in Medical Education (PME) are bringing us up to date with much-needed instruction on key aspects of health equity. Last year, HMS completed the first phase of the Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative, started in 2018 to train all HMS students and faculty clinicians in providing compassionate, expert health care for individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. HMS is proud to be a leader in this area.

Importantly, we’ve introduced an anti-racism subcommittee in our highest-level curricular governance committee, the Educational Policy and Curriculum Committee. This subcommittee is focused on implementing the recommendations of PME’s anti-racism task force.

HMS is, and always will be, firmly committed to its diversity statement and community values. Our Better Together plan, an outgrowth of the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion that was initiated at HMS long before the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of race-conscious admissions, articulates our shared responsibility to champion people of all backgrounds and identities.

It also grounds us in the moral imperative to address issues of health disparities, equity, and social justice in all aspects of our work. We will revise our admissions policies to comply with the Supreme Court directive, though our commitment to the importance of diversity and equity in medicine will never waver.

HMS will continue to investigate the social determinants of health through on-the-ground efforts, including those spearheaded by our Office for Community Centered Medical Education, housed within our Program in Medical Education and our Center for Primary Care. From the moment they set foot on campus, during the first-week Introduction to the Profession course, to the moment they graduate, our medical students experience HMS as a scientific distillery of theories and practices around equitable health care delivery.

In the realm of graduate education, our master’s programs are thriving. We currently offer nine master’s degrees — the newest being the master of science in media, medicine, and health — with three additional programs expected to be proposed in the coming year. In fall 2023, we welcomed our largest incoming class with more than 550 master’s students. Dean’s scholarships were awarded to 35 master’s students, an increase of 10 over the previous year, and included international students for the first time.

Our PhD programs remain a priority. Capitalizing on the strengths of our Department of Biomedical Informatics, HMS announced a new artificial intelligence in medicine PhD track within the biomedical informatics PhD program. The program, which begins in fall 2024, will train computationally minded students how to solve problems in the context of biomedicine and clinical care. A new MD-PhD summer program — the Harvard/MIT Equitable Access to Research Training program, or HEART — led by MD-PhD students Eana Meng and Simran Handa aims to create opportunities for undergraduate students to access physician-scientist career paths.

Our Office for External Education continues to grow with a wide range of learning opportunities for audiences around the globe, including health care professionals, corporate learners, and patients and their families. Under the visionary leadership of Dean David Roberts, the office is designing and delivering postgraduate professional education programs in countries around the world, including Hungary and Poland, and expanding HMS’ reach in Latin America.

The team’s leading digital transformation in health care program was translated into Spanish and Portuguese and delivered to more than 600 executive education learners. Tailored programs and customized health information for companies like Boehringer Ingelheim, Microsoft, and Anthem have increased substantially over the past year.

All of these aspects of our educational mission point to HMS as an inclusive community for tomorrow’s leaders in science and health care. The whole of our educational programs and offerings are enacting the future we want to see. Our students receive best-in-class training with the highest quality buttresses in place to support their growth, including financial aid packages and mental health resources.