ocean11 said:
I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who I might have offended, my point was NOT about race it was about the stats the trepgrl mentioned earlier. Perhaps in my example I should have used Moorehouse or Mercer instead of Jefferson, but anyhow.... I'm not saying that doctors that graduate from Howard are bad, I actually know 2 brilliant and successful ones working in Detroit. I was simply refering to the statistics..... I don't understand why you would think that I am putting down a race when I'm talking about a school, but i don't want any bad feelings among people either. It's not nice to hurt others and if I have (which was NOT my intention) than I'm sorry.
And as for the personal insults... how do you know what school I'm going to this year? I actually received other acceptances as well...
Regardless, the bottom line is that Howard might be a great medical school, but the fact is that 10% of it's students are cited for some violation or other, and some programs were put on probation etc..... now this might NOT be the school's fault, but is perhaps due to less stringent admissions criteria..... nevertheless... you have to admit 10% is alot and NOT a good thing! but while saying that.... sure I know that there are many great MD's that come from Howard and I was DEFINETLY NOT saying that it was a terrible school.
If you want to debate this further feel free to PM me or talk about the actual stats (ie: violations, near probations, or disorgonized administration office), THAT IS my debate it is NOT about the fact that it is a 'black' university, so is Moorhouse, Drew etc.... and those schools are much better run and are definetly on par with Jefferson, Case, or GW etc....
Bottom line: this debate was meant to be about a school NOT about a race get it? good!
Hi there,
I am a graduate of Howard University College of Medicine. The medical school has not been and is not on probation. Some of the residency program at Howard University Hospital were placed on probation. These residency programs were Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pedicatrics and Radiology. The LCME (board which accredits medical schools) gave Howard University College of Medicine full accredition for seven years. I actually served on one of the committees that was part of the inspection and LCME site-visit process. Every part of the medical curriculum, faculty and facility was inspected and received full approved. While some of the residency programs are on probation, some are thriving and doing very well. These include General Surgery, Medicine, and Orthopedic Surgery. These residency programs filled completely in the match and General Surgery is downright competitive.
While some graduates of Howard University College of Medicine have been cited for poor professional practice by some state medical boards (Hartford Courant Article about graduates not students), these citations had little to do with their medical school education and lots to do with how and where these individuals did their post-graduate training and their individual character. I do not believe that the admissions criteria for admission to Howard University College of medicine had anything to do with the professional conduct of any of its current students or graduates including myself.
Just as there have been Howard University College of Medicine graduates who have had professional difficulties, there have been some outstanding graduates such as LaSalle LeFalle, Jr. former president of the American College of Surgeons, Ernest Myers - ENT professor and author of one of the definitive books on Head and Neck Cancers, Avram Cooperman - editor of Surgical Clinics of North America-Pancreatic Cancer surgeon, Edward Cornwell, III - chief of Trauma Surgery at Johns Hopkins University, Gary Dennis - chief of Neurosurgery at Howard University Hospital and holder of multiple patents for intraventricular delivery devices and others.
I feel that I received an excellent medical school education at Howard University College of Medicine and I scored extremely well on USMLE (all steps). I was able to get into and am currently in an excellent residency program (University of Virgnia) that is training me to be a good and safe surgeon. Other members of my class are currently training at Hopkins, Stanford, Mayo Clinic, Medical College of Virginia, Medical College of Ohio, USC and other academic centers nationwide.
I had a choice of several excellent medical schools and I chose to attend Howard based largely on the excellent faculty, diverse and supportive student body and emphasis on treating underserved populations. I feel that Howard University College of Medicine more than met my expectations and provided a great atmosphere for learning medicine. It's location in a diverse urban environment provided plenty of experiences with Latino, African-American and Vietnamese populations each with special needs.
While medical education at Howard University College of Medicine is not for everyone, it is a good school with a solid track-record of training physicians who have interests in working with underserved populations. There are world-class researchers at Howard who are doing cutting edge research in sickle cell anemia, organ transplantation, diabetes,HIV, mitochondrial DNA, breast cancer and SLE.
Every medical school has areas that need improvement and Howard is no exception. I know that the faculty and administration is well aware of the needs and problems and that measures are being taken to correct some of the areas that need improvement. I just find your arguement that medical school admissions criteria such as MCAT scores and GPAs have something to do with future professional behavior (that has occured many years after graduation) a bit off track.
njbmd
🙂
