Paradigm-Shifting Curriculum
The Illinois Model for Medical Education
This model is the first in the world to integrate engineering principles in teaching medicine. Our three-pillar approach infuses basic sciences, clinical sciences, engineering and innovation, interwoven with curricular threads, namely Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Lifespan Health, Health Systems Science, and the Social and Structural Determinants of Health.
Balancing clinical medicine and biosciences with engineering and the humanities centers our work on the human condition.
Overview
Leading experts in engineering, medicine and science will teach every course, fostering a generation of board-certified physician-innovators—tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and leaders, trained in medicine and engineering.
Our Curriculum values:
- Patient-centered care
- Systems-based delivery
- Nexus of Engineering and Humanistic Medicine
- Innovation and research focus
- Early clinical exposure
Leveraging enterprise-wide expertise and an unmatched culture of interdisciplinary collaboration makes this possible.
Our graduates will be board-certified physicians and
Physician-innovators who are:
- Creative problem-solvers who challenge the status quo
- Technology drivers and implementers
- Comfortable in non-traditional team to create non-traditional solutions to healthcare challenges
Physician-leaders who are:
- Clinicians who exemplify professionalism and passion
- Lifelong learners
- Skilled in the discipline of leadership
Threads
Humanistic content, such as arts, humanities, bioethics, patient experiences, the human condition, and healthy aging are captured in the CI MED threads, which are carefully and intentionally woven through our four-year curriculum.
Curriculum Architecture
Foundational Science Education
In your first 18 months, through the lenses of engineering and innovation, you will leverage your existing competence to deepen and advance knowledge to develop clinical reasoning skills through problem-based and case-based learning and then apply them to patient care in a clinic setting and in the Family Medicine Clerkship.
Clinical Education
After solidifying your knowledge foundational to medicine, you will further apply clinical skills to care for patients in immersion clerkships (Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatry), enhanced by the application of technology, engineering, and innovation, to create and develop solutions to health/ healthcare challenges. During this time, you can explore a variety of interests as part of a 10-week elective block.
Engineering, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Leading up to your life after medical school,you will have opportunities to gain experience in an area of personal interest and make progress toward your individual careers goals. You will continue to build advanced clinical skills through electives, rotations and sub-internships at sites across the country, and you’ll apply your training and curiosity in the culmination of a capstone project or data science project.
Project Courses
IDEA Project Course (longitudinal)
Harness your peak creativity in the Innovation, Design, Engineering and Analysis (IDEA) projects course. You will regularly meet with Engineering partners to generate new & innovative ideas to improve health care challenges during the immersion clerkships.
Capstone Project or Data Science Project Course (longitudinal)
You’ll make creative and efficient use of your fourth year with finishing either a the capstone project or data science project. One of your IDEA projects can be selected as your capstone project to potentially translate to new approaches, technologies and treatments.