University at Buffalo (UB)
MD Program Overview
Medical school is one of the most exciting times in the life of an aspiring physician. Yet, it is also one of the most challenging. Every student will require personal and professional assistance to navigate the path that leads to a medical degree.
Office of Medical Education
We encourage you to contact us for assistance with:
- questions or concerns you have about any aspect of your medical education at UB
- coordinating, monitoring, and supporting your progress through the MD curriculum
- registering for and MD scheduling courses
- personal, academic, and career counseling
- registering for the United States Medical Licensing Examination Steps (USMLE) I and II
- applying for residency.
Longitudinal Clinical Mentoring Program
As physician-scientists, integrating your clinical and research training will be a career-long endeavor. Our Clinical Mentoring Program ensures that your clinical skills are refined, even while completing basic science research.
Our program alum, Lucy Mastrandrea, MD, PhD '99, implemented and oversees our Clinical Mentoring Program.
The goal of the Clinical Mentoring Program is to begin introducing the students to possible areas of clinical specialization that fit with their research interests while also providing continued practice of the skills learned during their first two years of medical school. Through the Clinical Mentoring Program, each student will be paired with a Clinical Mentor to oversee their continued training for approximately 4 hours per month.
The Clinical Mentor Program will also help to connect students with practitioners in other specialties of interest, providing the students with flexibility in where they complete their continued training. Thus, the mentoring program will provide our students with a way to document the clinical experiences that they were previously pursuing informally. This is also expected to be a beneficial addition to the training plans for NIH F30 applications.
The transition back to medical school after completion of the PhD is one of the most stressful periods during the MD-PhD process. The Clinical Mentoring Program is expected to alleviate this stress by allowing students to continue gaining familiarity with the fundamentals of the doctor-patient relationship, medical interviews, physical examinations, clinical reasoning, and medical decision-making in the specialty of their interest. The program will also expand the mentoring network for our students to assist them in reaching their career goals.