The curriculum leading to the Doctor of Medicine degree is designed to provide a medical education that prepares graduates comprehensively for residency training, provides them the experience on which to base their career selection, and prepares them for professional lives of continuous learning.

The Practice of Medicine, a course that spans all four years, provides early patient exposure and the means to develop outstanding clinical thinking, technical skills, and a sense of professionalism. In the first two years, the Practice of Medicine offers a clinical apprenticeship in which each student is placed with a practicing primary care clinician one day every other week, while on alternate weeks students meet in small groups with faculty mentors to learn clinical assessment skills and to consider ethical, social, and professional issues. In addition, problem-based learning is conducted through small-group, case-based tutorials.

The balance of the curriculum in Years I and II is devoted to didactic basic science instruction. In Year I, that instruction is concentrated on the study of normal human biology and function, with specific courses in gross and microscopic anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, and immunology. In Year II, instruction is focused on the study of abnormal human biology, with specific courses in pathology, pharmacology, psychiatry, and microbiology. Year II concludes with Introduction to Clinical Medicine, an interdisciplinary course organized in terms of organ systems.

During the final two years, the MD program consists primarily of a series of required clerkships and elective sequences designed to prepare students for graduate training in any field of their choice, while at the same time providing them with extensive exposure to a variety of fields sufficient to enable them to make appropriate career decisions. Basic science content is re-examined and reinforced in the continuing Practice of Medicine course where, among other multidisciplinary considerations, the implications and applications of the basic sciences to the understanding and management of clinical problems are explored, and topics of ethics and patient management are handled on a more sophisticated level.

Third-year required clerkships of eight weeks each include medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and primary care. In the fourth year, students are required to complete an acting internship in medicine, pediatrics, or family medicine; at least one course in neuroscience, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and a non-clinical subject; and 14 weeks of electives. A variety of elective experiences is available to meet these requirements at the University and its affiliated hospitals; permission may also be granted to take a limited number of electives elsewhere.