Educational Philosophy

The California Northstate University College of Medicine(CNUCOM) curriculum is designed to help students become physicians who are self-directed and lifelong learners. The four (4) year curriculum is designed to facilitate and optimize student learning in a progressive and integrated manner both in didactic and experiential courses. CNUCOM recognizes the need to implement varied educational styles in order for students to become competent self-directed, life-long learners. Therefore, there will be a variety of formats for instruction ranging from lecture to completely self-directed.

The curriculum is a completely clinical presentation-based, integrated curriculum. Clinical presentations frame the introductory material in the Foundations of Clinical Medicine. All subsequent courses in the pre-clerkship Phase A curriculum (Year 1 and Year 2) integrate biochemistry, cell biology, embryology, genetics, anatomy, histology, immunology, microbiology, nutrition, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology with the clinical presentations. The Medical Skills course runs concurrently with the systemsbased courses and is designed to integrate doctoring skills each week in order to reinforce and enhance the information being taught in the rest of the curriculum. Masters Colloquium is a biweekly course designed to foster professionalism, ethics, and global health knowledge and behaviors throughout the Phase A curriculum.

The required clerkships and electives in Phases B and C carry our clinical presentation curriculum through completion of the medical education program. CNUCOM has aligned many of our Phase A clinical presentations with nationally recognized “must see” cases during the clerkships years, Phases B and C. Students will have the opportunity to master the basic sciences and foundational clinical skills associated with the clinical presentations in Phase A. Students will then see these clinical presentations again as live patients in Phases B and C and hone their clinical skills and develop a deeper understanding of therapeutics and treatment.