Q. I’ve been told that a new med school curriculum was launched at Upstate in the fall of 2001 and that my first basic science course is going to be something called Molecular Foundations of Medicine (or MFM for short). What will be covered in MFM?
A. MFM includes the essential content previously presented in four separate courses: Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Nutrition. The course lays necessary groundwork for other basic and clinical sciences, and for further learning throughout the physician’s professional life. MFM also introduces students to selected clinical applications of the basic sciences, with emphasis on genetics and nutrition.

Q. How is it possible to do all that in 9 weeks?
A. We’ve tried to do a careful job of integrating and streamlining, eliminating unnecessary duplication as well as material not really needed at this stage of med school. Compared to the old curriculum, we’ve reduced the number of lectures per week by about 20%, opening up more unscheduled time—time that can be used to work problems and study. And under the new curriculum students focus on just a single basic science course, whereas formerly there were 3-4 basic science courses running concurrently.

Q. You mentioned lectures. Are there going to be any other sorts of scheduled activities in MFM?
A. Besides lectures, there will be Conference sessions (involving student PowerPoint presentations in groups of 10 students), Clinical Problems sessions (workshop format: active problem-working in small teams, followed by informal discussions), and structured review sessions.

Q. How will I be graded?
A. Ninety percent of the MFM grade will be based on scores from 3 exams (with each exam 3 hours long and covering the preceding course segment). The rest of the grade will reflect performance in Conferences. Note the exam dates: Friday, Sept. 15; Friday, Oct. 6; and Friday, Oct. 27.

Q. Why are all the exams on Fridays? Why not give us the weekends to study?
A. We think it’s more humane to build into the schedule a few weekends for guilt-free relaxation. So you can alert your families and friends right now to those weekends when you’ll have to study and those weekends right after each exam when you’ll be free to unwind. Also, we should mention that each of our three course segments is ‘front-loaded’: by scheduling a few long days early in each segment, we’re able to stop introducing new material several days before each exam and to free up lots of study time in the days immediately preceding each exam. The Friday exams and ‘front loading’ have been well received by students during the first five years of MFM.

Q. I’ve never had biochemistry before. Am I going to be at a severe disadvantage in MFM?
A. We honestly don’t think so. We’re aware that many students have not had biochem — and that few entering students will have had biochem, plus cell & molecular, plus genetics, plus nutrition. So we assume only that you’ve had the required college courses: general chem, organic, and a year of bio.

Q. OK, but isn’t there something I should be doing during the summer to get ready for the MFM course?
A. Especially if your background in biological sciences is relatively weak (if, say, you haven’t taken advanced college courses in cell biology/molecular biology/biochemistry/genetics, and if it has been years since you took intro bio, and if you had difficulty with the bio part of the MCAT), then you should probably set aside time to review the basics of cell and molecular biology, genetics, and biochemistry as they are presented in an introductory college biology course. Similarly, if you sense that your chem background is relatively weak (and here too the MCAT may be an indication), we suggest you review some of the basics (bonding, chemical reactions, equilibrium, concentrations, acids and bases, types of organic compounds, etc.) before you arrive.

Q. What textbook(s) will be used?
A. Recommended Texts
The following three textbooks contain most of the information that will be covered in MFM. Many of the faculty will use figures and diagrams directly from these texts in their lectures.

• Alberts et al., Essential Cell Biology, 2nd ed. Garland (2004).
• Nussbaum, McInnes & Willard, Thompson & Thompson’s Genetics in Medicine, 6th ed. Revised Reprint, Saunders (2004).
• Devlin, Textbook of Biochemistry with Clinical Correlations, 6th ed. Wiley-Liss (2006).

The recommended texts will be available for purchase at the Upstate bookstore and copies will be on reserve in Upstate’s Health Sciences Library.

Other Texts
The following textbooks are on reserve in the library. Some students may find these useful in providing additional information, a more thorough explanation of a topic, or a different approach to the material found in the three recommended texts. Some faculty may include a few figures and diagrams directly from these texts in their lectures to supplement the material found in the recommended texts.

• Voet, Voet, and Pratt, Fundamentals of Biochemistry, Wiley (2006).
This biochemistry text is more detailed and focuses on traditional biochemical mechanisms and pathways that in some cases are less obviously related to direct clinical application.
• Smith et al., Mark’s Basic Medical Biochemistry, 2nd ed. Lippincott (2005).
This Biochemistry text is more clinically oriented and is particularly strong in the metabolic pathways and their integration with one another.
• Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th ed. Garland (2002).
This Cell and Molecular Biology text is a larger more in-depth version of the recommended Essential Cell Biology text.
• Turnpenny and Ellard, Emery’s Elements of Medical Genetics, 12th ed. Elsevier (2005). This genetics textbook is not as comprehensive as the Thompson and Thompson text, but it has excellent descriptions of genetic principles and is very useful as a supplement to the primary text.

Q. Should I start memorizing these texts during the summer?
A. No, you should relax and try to arrive here in a good frame of mind. Sheer memorization is a doubtful approach in any case; you’re going to have to be selective in what you commit to memory. What we do strongly recommend is that you attend all lectures and use the lectures to guide your reading and studying. Prior to each three-week segment of MFM, you’ll receive a syllabus containing lecture handouts and background material for Conferences and CP sessions. Those handouts will direct you to selected readings in the recommended texts.

Q. If I have further questions, how do I get more information?
A. During the summer, before the course starts, you can get additional information by visiting the course website: http://www.upstate.edu/courseware/molecular/

During the course itself, we use ‘Blackboard’ course management software to make information available online. Among the items posted are schedules, lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, links to video recordings, review questions, practice quizzes, and information about course administration and contacting individual faculty members. Instructions on accessing Blackboard will be provided at Orientation.

Q. Now that you have the experience of having given the MFM course five times, do you have any additional advice? Is there something else I could or should do to prepare for MFM?
A. These are hard questions to answer, since students vary so greatly in their backgrounds. Here are a few tips intended to help ease your transition to med school (and to MFM):

1. Be prepared to get down to work at the start of school. Med school is demanding. You may have to work harder than ever before. Try to get settled in promptly and ‘hit the ground running’. Try to adopt a daily routine that allows plenty of time for effective studying. (You can always add back other activities later.)

2. Familiarize yourself on Day 1 with the course organization, faculty expectations, and the grading scheme. The first pages of the course syllabus will spell it all out for you. (These pages will also be available online and on the course website during the summer.) You will need to grasp the course organization to budget your time wisely. The time to get up to speed is very short: the first exam comes at the end of the third week. Questions from past exams will be made available; these can be a useful supplement to the lectures in indicating the level of understanding expected, but are most helpful if used early in each segment as a guide for studying. Every year, it seems, there are a few otherwise capable students who don’t figure things out until it’s too late. Don’t be one of those.

3. Plan your weekends strategically. Those trips home can really eat into study time. You’re going to need to study hard most weekends to keep up. Inform your loved ones of the exam schedule, and plan your social life accordingly. (Again, you can always loosen up later, once you’ve found your comfort level.)

Q. Anything else?
A. Just this: As the three co-course coordinators, we welcome you to Upstate on behalf of the entire MFM faculty! We hope you have great first year!

May, 2006

Technical Support:
Michael Touhey