Conference Call #10
January 10, 2008
Present on the call were Drs. Schuckit, Guschwan, and Tapert (Director and Associate Directors); Marcy Gregg (Administrator); Second-Year Scholars: Drs. Anika Alonzo, Larry Gray, Gary Bart, along with First-Year Scholars: Drs. Krishna Balachandra, Leslie Buckley, Maritza Lagos, and Timothy Lineberry.
I. The meeting began with an overview of the Agenda. Our goal was to review the progress on lectures, reports from developments at universities, recruitment, and a review of the upcoming meeting.
II. Marc then reviewed the progress on the first-year lectures, reminding scholars of the fact that all material needs to be submitted to him before January 25th. Dr. Balanchandra=s lecture produced with Dr. Larry Gray has been almost completed and slides are in process. Problems for remaining lectures included the usual difficulties of: some challenges following the outline format; the need to use sentence fragments; the need for the flow of logic to be optimal; being sure that the material fits together into a coherent lecture; giving enough detail that the medical students would learn and that the person delivering the lecture knows what to say; and keeping in mind that these lectures are produced for other teachers at other medical schools and therefore must have appropriate details and references.
III. We next reviewed the recent developments at different medical schools.
Dr. Gavin Bart of the University of Minnesota reported that he recently spoke with representatives of the Minnesota House of Representatives regarding the need for education in medical schools. His Department has been very responsive to his efforts to increase alcohol and drug education, he is currently working with a 16-lecture series on alcohol and drug-related disorders to psychiatric residents (using the AMSP lectures whenever possible), and has also developed rotations for General Medicine.
Dr. Larry Gray of the University of Chicago is part of the Capstone Curriculum being developed for fourth-year students. He is in charge of a module dealing with substance use disorders. This is the first effort at their medical school to develop this module, and Larry is also reaching out to third-year students on Pediatrics for evening discussions related to a variety of topics.
Dr. Anika Alvanzo of Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center has started a lunch-time series on addictions, the first of which is to be presented this month. This is for medical students of all years. She is also currently evaluating additional career options available to her.
Dr. Krishna Balachandra of the University of Western Ontario is in the midst of a survey of information being offered to medical students at his University. This has given him visibility with both the Dean and the Chair of his Department. He is also participating in a medical student movie night (30-to-40 participants) viewing shows relating to alcohol and drug problems. Furthermore, Dr. Balachandra is involved in a medical student rotation for a half afternoon each week as part of an elective based on AMSP, and is reaching out to medical students.
Dr. Leslie Buckley of the University of Toronto met with the Dean of the Medical School regarding alcohol education, and hopes to make this into an ongoing relationship. She, too, is working on an evaluation of the medical education on substance use disorders at her University.
Dr. Maritza Lagos of Michigan State University is working her way through making contacts with people in her Department interested in substance use disorders. The Medical School Clerkship Director has approved a medical student rotation. She has discovered that there are few lectures on substance use disorders, and is working on recruiting psychiatric residents to also help enhance alcohol and drug education.
Dr. Timothy Lineberry of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine has developed a case of alcohol withdrawal as part of the Clinical Skills Exam at his University. He continues to direct the psychopathology course for psychiatry residents and meets with second-year medical students. He is now negotiating with the University regarding the optimal length for the psychiatry clerkship. Tim is also working on a survey of alcohol and drug education at his University.
IV. Recruitment
Two scholars have already been selected for August 2008. A third is currently being evaluated, and Marianne Guschwan is screening several additional individuals. We will be taking at most five scholars for the 2008 class to begin in August. The current scholars were reminded that we are focusing only on people with full-time medical school appointments, those committed to academic careers, we are open to individuals from any department in the medical school, and prefer not to select a scholar at a school that had already been represented.
IV. The meeting ended with a review of the upcoming meeting.
Our group will get together at the Torrey Pines Hilton Hotel (about 20 miles north of San Diego and situated between La Jolla and Del Mar). The meeting is to begin at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30th, and will end at noon on Saturday, May 3rd, and, per usual, will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. All second-year scholars will present their lectures, first-year scholars will demonstrate the lectures they are currently developing, and there will be additional lectures by Drs. Tapert and Schuckit. Dinners for the entire group will be on Wednesday night and Friday night, and all scholars are invited to bring a significant other.
Marc A. Schuckit, M.D.