For 40 years, Mount Sinai School of Medicine has fostered a cooperative environment that facilitates the development of the two most important skills a future physician can acquire: the capacity to critically evaluate new information and the flexibility to synthesize the information into adaptations in practice. We focus on treating the whole patient. Medical ethics, the social aspects of disease and cultural diversity are essential elements of study.

Students learn clinical care working side-by-side with world-renowned doctors and gain experience in the laboratory from scientists answering fundamental questions about human diseases. Recognition that successful and empathetic provision of care requires more than the acquisition of scientific knowledge led to the establishment of innovative programs, such as The Morchand Center for Clinical Competence and the Humanities and Medicine Program. Community service, social and cultural enrichment, and working with a wide diversity of patients from numerous racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds in urban and suburban settings cultivates the skills needed to become a superb, compassionate care giver. There is a strong tradition at Mount Sinai of students helping their colleagues learn. Senior students serve as teaching assistants in Anatomy, lead review sessions for every course, and provide free and unlimited one on one tutoring.

The school's mission statement is "to train outstanding physicians and scientists who are prepared to enter society as informed advocates and activists, able to advance science and clinical care, and capable of promoting change."

While keeping in line with the school's mission, MSSM has embarked on a major curriculum revision. To guide the development of the new curriculum, a group of educators from the basic and clinical sciences have defined the core competencies that graduates of our school will be expected to demonstrate by the end of their training:

• Patient Care
• Scientific and Medical Knowledge
• Learning, Scholarship and Collaboration
• Professionalism and Advocacy

The following link leads to a full report which outlines how the competencies were developed, defines the competencies, and presents anticipated steps in their implementation.