In addition to the standard, four-year curriculum, a number of combined degree and master’s degree options are available. Assessment of learning is based on stated criteria, and support services are available for teachers and learners.
Curriculum Phases
The Gateway Curriculum consists of three phases over four calendar years. In addition, the Gateway Curriculum’s EXPLORE component allows students to examine their own career goals and gain exposure to areas of interest.
Phase 1 will begin with Gateway Orientation. Gateway Orientation will give incoming students a chance to launch their medical education journey—getting to know each other, their new school, and their community in St. Louis.
Phase 1 continues with seven Foundational Science Modules of variable length incorporating basic, clinical, social and systems science knowledge. Modules will center on function (primary physiological organization) and forms (secondary anatomical organization) of the human body in an integrated fashion including the basic and clinical sciences and the impact of the social and health systems science. Each module will have similar large-scale structure to facilitate consistency and familiarity. Phase 1 concludes with a Capstone experience.
The majority of instruction in Phase 1 will typically occur in the mornings, Monday through Friday. Activity-orientated content will occur typically two to three afternoons per week (e.g., clinical skills training, activities directed at students’ areas of passion such as community engagement, advocacy, education and research).
Evidence based active learning strategies and educational technology are used to augment medical student engagement and learning (e.g., team-based learning, case-based collaborative learning, flipped classroom strategies, labs).
Three 3-week Clinical Immersion experiences will rotate students through three clinical environments: Ambulatory/ED, Inpatient, and Procedural. During Clinical Immersions attention will be given to clinical skills, the social and health systems sciences and professional identity formation.
Phase 2 consists of six 8-week core clinical clerkships where students rotate through internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, OB/GYN, neurology and psychiatry.
The components of the core include preparation, clinical immersion and consolidation. In preparation, the clerkship begins with one week of specialty specific foundational material, consisting of purposeful reiteration and expansion of prior material (helical learning) and new material with signs and symptoms framework to facilitate core knowledge transfer to clinical reasoning. During clinical rotations, students join patient care teams with more engagement in advanced clinical work than Phase 1. Finally, during consolidation the clerkship ends with a one-week period for revisiting concepts, filling in knowledge gaps, and including assessments, reflection, coaching, and community (ARCC).
Students particularly interested in a career in science have the option of completing 8-16 weeks of research beginning in January of Phase 2.
During Phase 3, schedules and activities are tailored to individual passions and career aspirations. All students are required to complete a 4-week Internal Medicine Advanced Clinical Rotation. Additionally, students are required to complete two 4-week Advanced Clinical Rotations (ACR) which are sub internship-like experiences in areas selected by the students and two 4-week Keystone Integrated Science Courses (KISC). KISCs provide deep explorations into the science of a broad array of topics (basic, clinical, social and health systems science), will be transdisciplinary and will take students from cell to society around an important or emerging area. Up to eight weeks of credit-bearing study/preparation time may be used for USMLE exams: Step 1 and Step 2 CK. Finally, students are required to complete a 4-week Gateway to Residency (Capstone) course early in their graduation year. The remaining 10 months are entirely elective. It is anticipated that the vast majority of our students will do some form of research early in Phase 3 focused in an area of their interest.
By the completion of Phase 3, students will complete their achievement of the core competencies and develop competencies and an identity consistent with their chosen profession. They will dive deeply into the foundational, clinical, social and systems sciences relevant to their chosen field. They will continue exploration of their passions and have opportunities to take deep dives into those passions.