The Riverside Branch of AAUW met on January 14, at 10:00 AM at Habitat for Humanity. President Elect, Ruthann Mlcoch, (in for absent President, Barb Ryon) welcomed and thanked all those present for attending. Publication Chair, Jo Turner, introduced our speaker, Dr. Paul Lyons from UCR     Medical School.          Dr. Lyons’ academic resume includes a BA in Philosophy from Oberlin College, an MD from Ohio State U, a Residency in Family Medicine at Minnesota U, and the Chair of Clinical Education and faculty advisor at Temple University School of Medicine. He has received three awards for excellence in teaching and is presently Dean of Education in charge of all curricular programs and faculty recruitment for UCR Medical School.

     Dr. Lyons began by thanking us for the opportunity to speak about the changes that are happening at UCR Medical School.   UCR is different from other Medical Schools because of its creative and   innovative curriculum. UCR believes that a prerequisite for medical school is knowledge and experience in literature and the arts. Evidence has shown that this makes doctors better listeners and  consequently, they can make better diagnoses. The patient seeking a doctor’s help, tells the doctor a “story,” — the doctor must then organize his/her story, the information, choose what is important and recognize the detail that doesn’t fit in. Knowing this, UCR has changed the medical school curriculum to include the Humanities. The Federal Government gave a grant of $100,000.00 for medical students to begin this new program.

     First, UCR Medical School has a writing professor teaching medical students to write for the first three years of medical school. The goal for the student is to gather information and turn it into a story–(creative writing). Second, medical students are asked to make use of “pretend patients” in order to practice skills of diagnosing and human interactions. Medical students create a ten page “dramatic   persona” that they use to become the simulated patients with other medical students. Third, medical students go out into the real world of practicing doctors’ offices and clinics when they are freshmen and work with patients — they continue at the same clinics for four years. Dr. Lyons calls this a Longitudinal Medical School – (we have heard this before from Chancellor Wilcox.) Thus, medical students learn to apply their skills interacting with patients from the beginning of their school career which makes for a very different medical student. Scientific competence without compassion is not the doctor you want. The feedback from doctors and staff has been positive.

     Dr. Lyons believes that the community of Riverside saved the UCR Medical School. Presently, UCR Medical School has one hundred students, but the future will bring growth — in numbers of     students and in the expansion by offering medical residency training at Riverside Community Hospital and other hospitals in the area.

        For students wishing to enter UCR Medical School, the classic criteria of “braininess” is not the only prerequisite. UCR wants people from this region who are committed to others. They have set up an interviewing process to assess the students’ ethics, professionalism and interest in service. This is their own unique system that elicits responses from the students that can be scored by the interviewing doctor and then compared and evaluated. Dr. Lyons seemed pleased with this kind of selection of   students and considers it different (better) than what other medical schools do.

Dr. Lyons is a very dynamic and engaging speaker and as a result had an avid group of listeners. Our Branch has an abiding interest in the UCR Medical School and Dr. Lyons added to our knowledge and our pride that such an institution is here. Dr. Lyons began his talk with a poem by William Carlos Williams, a verse by Dr. Seuss, and the story of Goldilocks — thus, as the saying goes, he had us from the start. (His reference to a low tech Tricoder approach to medical school, may have caused some to ponder!) Riverside and its environs are fortunate to have a person with the brains, talent and values of Dr. Lyons. What he does at UCR Medical School matters.