An understanding of human behavior, behavioral manifestations of illness and psychopathology is considered to be an essential component in the education of all physicians, regardless of future specialty or practice plans. Accordingly, there are academic and clinical offerings available to students at all levels of medical education. Faculty involvement in medical student teaching is emphasized. All of the members of the faculty of the Department devote time to teaching and supervising medical students. Faculty involvement includes teaching in lecture format in a number of undergraduate courses, participation in interdisciplinary teaching experiences including Medicine and Society and clinical correlation exercises, as well as individual supervision and intensive clinical training during clerkships and electives.
Several faculty serve as advisors to medical students throughout their years of medical school.
The formal offerings of the Department include both required and elective courses and clerkships. In addition, interested students are encouraged to formulate elective courses to address their particular interests under faculty supervision. Required course work includes the second year Behavioral Foundations of Medicine course and the six week clerkship in Psychiatry. Behavioral Foundations of Medicine is an eight week course offered in the spring of the second year of medical school. Under the direction of Dr. Chetan Haldipur, faculty from the Departments of psychiatry as well as several related disciplines introduce students to a biopsychosocial model for understanding human behavior.