Longitudinal Curriculum

During Phases I, II and III students will have clinical experiences with a community preceptor, and learn communication and physical exam skills in the Foundations of Doctoring curriculum.

In the third and fourth years of medical school, ICC brings together an entire class with two specific goals. The first goal is to provide important skills and knowledge in areas that are vital to the practice of medicine, but are often difficult to teach or not uniformly taught in the clinical setting. ICC topics include health policy, ethics, professionalism, clinical decision-making, culturally effective care, clinically relevant basic science material, and advanced clinica​l skills. The second, but no less important goal, is to provide students with the time and opportunity to reflect on and discuss the process of becoming a physician.        

ICC Dates for Academic Year 2019-2020

Cla​s​s of 2020, Phase IV

• IDPT 8004 – February 24-March 6, 2020
• IDPT 8005 – May 4-15, 2020

Class of 2021, Phase III

• IDPT 7001 – April 29-May 3, 2019
• IDPT 7002 – January 13-17, 2020
• IDPT 7003 – May 11-22, 2020

​​ICC Dates for Academic Year 2020-2021

Class of 2021, Phase IV

IPED develops core competencies in teamwork and collaboration, values and ethics, and quality and safety for first and second year health professions students from dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy and the physician assistant programs.

The MSA project is a four-year requirement for all undergraduate medical students. The project culminates in a capstone presentation in Phase IV prior to graduation. The goal of the MSA curriculum is to foster self-directed, life-long learning over the course of the medical student career. The MSA requires students to identify and work with a mentor to complete their projects, which also prepares them for working with mentors in their careers and serving as mentors to others in the medical profession.

Course goals demonstrate:

• Progress through the Phases and display independence and collaboration
• Ability to formulate a specific problem statement, question, hypothesis or aim
• Willingness to work effectively with a mentor.
• Ability to critically review and analyze literature on an important scholarly topic.
• Preparation of a scholarly project with appropriate methods and develop a plan to complete the project,
• Ability to synthesize and present results of a scholarly project.
• Use of the scientific method to test and or verify hypotheses in clinical and translational research.​     

Threads are longitudinal essential themes which run through all four years of the medical student curriculum. Threads Directors work with Block Directors in each Phase to ensure continuity and development of these topics. The Threads are:

• Culture, Health, Equity & Society​, Rita Lee, MD and Paritosh Kaul, MD, Directors
• Evidence Based Medicine and Medical Informatics, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, MD, MPH, PhD, Director; Brandon Combs, MD​, Associate Director
• Humanities, Ethics and Professionalism, Jackie Glover, PhD, Director

Medical students with a special area of interest may elect to participate in a track. Tracks provide additional opportunities to enhance learning and practice for students through special lectures, tailored clinical and research experiences, and sponsored mentored projects. Students will have knowledge and level appropriate responsibilities in each of the four years of medical school. To learn the requirements for application and what each track entails see the links below.

MD Program Applicants: The CU SOM curriculum is evolving! Content in the Urban Underserved and LEADs Tracks will be incorporated into the core curriculum starting in 2020 (all students will get this content). As a result, there will be no new track applications accepted for the Urban Underserved and LEADS Tracks for medical students applying to start in 2020 and beyond. The Research, Rural and Global Health Tracks will continue to accept new cohorts each year.​ 

Global Health Track	Research Track	Rural Track
International medicine with classroom and global experiences.	Providing students with in-depth long-term exposure to research.	Giving students a broad and rich experience in rural medicine.