The School of Medicine
Catalog pages 90-91
Medical Student Affairs: 1682A School of Medicine Education Building
- (951) 827-4333; fax: (951) 827-5504
medadmissions@ucr.edu; medschool.ucr.edu
Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Sciences 1140 Batchelor Hall
- (951) 827-5621
Mission Statement
The mission of the UCR School of Medicine is to improve the health of the people of California and, especially, to serve inland Southern California by training a diverse workforce of physicians and by developing innovative research and health care delivery programs that will improve the health of the medically underserved in the region and become models to be emulated throughout the state and nation.
The School
The UCR School of Medicine, the first new public medical school to be developed in California in more than 40 years, is expressly designed to meet the physician workforce needs in inland Southern California and to improve the health of people living in the region. The school’s community- based model provides medical students with clinical experiences in a variety of healthcare settings with diverse patient populations.
The M.D. curriculum offers a program that trains physicians who will be more attuned to the needs of increasingly diverse and underserved patient populations, with emphasis on culturally competent medical care. The Thomas Haider Program at the UCR School of Medicine will maintain a unique pathway into medical school for UCR students, with up to 24 seats filled by students who attend UCR for at least six consecutive quarters and complete their bachelor’s degree at UCR. medschool.ucr.edu/admissions
Together with affiliated medical centers in the community, the school is building a range of residency training programs to provide the post-M.D. education required for physicians to become fully independent, licensed and board certified. New and developing residency training programs currently are in the specialties of general internal medicine, family medicine, general pediatrics, OB/GYN, psychiatry and general surgery. medschool.ucr.edu/gme
Graduate Study and Research
The long-standing Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Sciences, now embedded in the School of Medicine, provides a unique integration of systems and disease-based medical curriculum with experimental applications to biomedical research problems. The program aims to train independent research scientists to bridge the wide gulfs that currently exist between basic science research and clinical medicine. medschool.ucr.edu/graduate
Biomedical sciences faculty in the school have robust research programs in such areas as neurodevelopmental, neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders, traumatic brain injury, parasitic infections, intestinal bowl disease, metabolic and neuroendocrine control of fertility, tumor cell biology, vaccine development, age-associated changes in immune defense and immune responses to viral infections. This outstanding base is being expanded with additional faculty in the biomedical sciences and clinical sciences with the goals of establishing new translational/clinical research programs and building research expertise in population-based health outcomes, prevention and wellness, health services and health disparities. The Center for Glial-Neuronal Interactions (CGNI) in UCR’s School of Medicine brings together researchers with very diverse expertise to foster innovative and collaborative research on problems of brain and spinal cord health and disease. Together, faculty, fellows and students seek to define molecular mechanisms required for optimal brain and spinal cord function as well as for prevention and therapeutic intervention of neurodevelopmental, neurologic and neurodegenerative diseases. Ongoing research includes programs on Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, cognitive disorders, epilepsy, glioblastoma, infections of the brain, multiple sclerosis, neuroinflammatory disorders, phantom limb syndrome, substance abuse and traumatic brain injury. cgni.ucr.edu
Student Pipeline Programs and Advising
Operated by the UCR School of Medicine, the Health Professions Advising Center is a resource available to all UCR undergraduate students and alumni interested in careers in the health professions, including medicine, dentistry, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, veterinary medicine and public health. Professional staff and peer mentors are available to guide students in planning pre-health professions coursework, gaining health-related experiences and completing service work. A variety of workshops on such topics as the application process and personal statement writing are also offered. hpac.ucr.edu
The School of Medicine has also recently expanded its student pipeline programs that together provide a continuum of student enrichment and academic support activities for students from the middle school level to postbaccalaureate level. Specific programs are Medical Leaders of Tomorrow, Future Physician Leaders, Health Sciences Partnership, Community College Outreach, FastStart, Medical Scholars Program, and the Premedical Postbaccalaureate Program. medschool.ucr.edu/pipeline_ programs.html
Facilities
In addition to the new School of Medicine Research Building and newly renovated School of Medicine Education Building, the school’s faculty, students and staff carry out their educational, research and administrative functions in Webber Hall, in Pierce Hall and in several clinical locations within Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The School of Medicine / The School of Public Policy / 91