M1 Sequence Overview
Patients and Populations
Sequence Directors

Bev Yashar, Ph.D, M.S.
Associate Professor, Human Genetics
Associate Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Email: yashar@umich.edu

Raj Mangrulkar, M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor, Internal Medicine; Associate Dean for Medical Student Education
Email: rajm@umich.edu

Gerald Abrams, M.D.
Professor Emeritus, Pathology
Email: gabrams@umich.edu
Sequence Description

Mission Statement
This is the first sequence of the medical school curriculum at the University of Michigan. The emphasis of this module is on genetics, principles of disease, epidemiology, information gathering, and assessment.
Sequence Objectives

Knowledge

  1. Each student will develop an understanding of the basic principles of medical genetics and their application to clinical medicine. Students will understand ongoing developments in medical genetics and their application to clinical problems.
  2. Each student will acquire an understanding of the basic mechanisms of disease, the pathogeneses and morphology of prototypical tissue changes that occur in the major classes of disease, and how these relate to clinical signs and symptoms.
  3. Through the study of General Pathology students will learn the basic elements of a medical vocabulary.
  4. Each student will have an understanding of how clinical observations, advances in scientific knowledge, and serendipity all contribute to our understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of effective treatments.
  5. Each student will have a sufficient understanding of biostatistics and epidemiology in order to understand and critically evaluate the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data in the biomedical literature.
  6. Each student will acquire a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of hypothesis generation and testing, study design, measurement and statistical inference as it pertains to the creation and application of new medical knowledge.
  7. Each student will acquire an introductory understanding of how new medical knowledge is created and applied.

Skills

Each student will be able to assess the quality of study design and implementation in research reported in major medical journals, focusing on both internal and external validity principles:

Internal Validity

  • The appropriateness of the study design with respect to the research hypothesis
  • The appropriateness of the study design with respect to its outcomes
  • The appropriateness of the selection of outcomes with respect to the RQ
  • Adherence of the study’s methods to its fundamental validity criteria

External Validity

  • The appropriateness of the study’s conclusions with respect to the strength of its findings
  • The appropriateness of the study’s methods and outcomes with respect to the importance of the problem
  • A basic understanding of how to establish rapport with a patient and to gather and organize medical information from the patient.

Professionalism: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Characteristics

  1. Each student will acquire an appreciation of the role and importance of clinical research and investigation in the care of patients.
  2. Each student will have a sufficient understanding of basic principles of medical genetics to understand new developments and their application to clinical practice. Students will begin to develop the ability to access, acquire, and interpret new findings in basic biomedicine and clinical research.
  3. Each student will understand medicine is not a static field, that treatment paradigms are constantly shifting, and that what we do not know far exceeds what we do know.