School Notes: School of Medicine
March/April 2009

Major reform of premed education under way

The Scientific Foundation for Future Physicians Committee, cochaired by medical school dean Robert J. Alpern, is studying the standard premedical curriculum with an eye toward making it more relevant to the practice of modern medicine. While science and medicine have changed dramatically in the last century, the premed curriculum has remained static, the committee determined. For example, a full year of organic chemistry is still required, although the relevance of much of it to medicine is marginal. Meanwhile, subjects such as statistics, biochemistry, and genetics aren't required.

Alpern said the committee's key proposal is to replace required courses with "scientific competencies" -- the knowledge and habits of thought that a student should have upon entering medical school.

The committee, organized by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and drawn from medical schools and undergraduate institutions, will present its recommendations this year. The next step will be to revise the MCAT, the aptitude test students take for admission to medical school, so as to reflect the changes in the premed curriculum. "It's not going to happen overnight," Alpern said, "but when it does, I think it will represent a major transformation in medical education."

Researchers zero in on a natural way to fight obesity

Medical school researchers may have discovered a new weapon in the battle against obesity -- a naturally occurring molecule secreted by the gut that makes rats and mice less hungry after fatty meals. This research finding suggests that the molecule may help regulate how much animals and people eat, according to research team leader Gerald I. Shulman, professor of medicine and cellular and molecular physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Shulman's team studied a family of lipids called N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines, or NAPES, which are synthesized and secreted into the blood by the small intestine after fatty foods are eaten. The team found that rodents injected regularly with NAPES ate less food and lost weight. The next step is to see if the team's findings apply to humans.

Large grants support study of AIDS, drug addiction, and inmate recidivism

In an effort to ease the transition for inmates reentering society, Yale University AIDS Program researchers will use grants totaling $6.4 million to study HIV prevention and drug treatment in soon-to-be-released prisoners in Connecticut and Malaysia. "Successful programs are urgently needed to break the cycle of chemical dependence and incarceration," said principal investigator Frederick L. Altice, professor of medicine. "Prisoners with drug dependence have a high rate of incarceration and recidivism and are at high risk for transmitting HIV." The grants were provided by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency.