Elective Courses - Years 1-4
Below is a list of the elective courses offered for first through fourth year medical students. There is no requirement to take any elective courses. These optional courses are offered to provide support throughout medical school and the journey into the field of health care. To enroll in an elective course, please fill out the add/drop form and submit it to the registrar.
COM 592: Global Health
Course Director: Scott Kellerman
The goal of this elective is to equip CNUCOM students with 21st century core competencies to align their education with emerging trends in health and medicine across the globe. Through innovative education and relevant programming, CNUCOM students will develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to tackle global health challenges, engage in advocacy and community partnerships that will make them leaders in healthcare in local, national, and global settings. In this course students will examine critical Issues in Global Health, diseases of the tropics, research in Global Health, and a module that will focus on the skills necessary to deliver medical care in a resource poor setting.
HLT 810: Wellness – Leadership, Healers Art, Mindfulness and Compassionate Conversations
Course Directors: Valerie Gerriets, PhD, Martin Rubin MD
During this the elective, students participate in several different components: Leadership, Healer’s Art, Mindfulness, and Humanities in Medicine. Skills introduced in the course will provide students with ways to maintain compassion for themselves and patients throughout their career. There will be assignments to enhance the value of the course content including reflective writing, mindfulness practices, and a Leadership Project.
RES 810-1/RES 810-2: Research Elective
Course Director: Valerie Gerriets, PhD
This course is designed to allow students to explore scholarly activity in a research area of their choice. Students can work with any PI of their choosing but are required to have a CNUCOM faculty advisor if the PI is not a CNU faculty member. The course is offered to M3 and M4 students as either a 2- or 4-week course. In this course, students will build upon their academic experience by developing hypotheses, conducting the planned study, preparing a document with the results, data analysis, and conclusions. Students are strongly encouraged to submit their work for publication and present their findings at either CNU Research Day or an alternative scientific conference.
IND 850: Navigating the Doctor Patient Relationship
Course Co-Directors: Martin Rubin, MD & Michael GuntherMaher, MD
The Navigating the Doctor Patient Relationship Course allows an opportunity to discuss challenging situations that are encountered during the clinical years of medical school. These discussions are based on the model of Balint groups and include considering the physician, patient, family, and medical student points of views. These conversations have proven benefit in increasing physician satisfaction, decreasing burnout and improving overall communication skills. Balint groups were started by Michael Balint in the 1950s in England and currently are part of physician and training programs nationally and internationally.
COM 907: Endocrinology Teaching Assistant
Course Director: Mark Sheffield, MD
In this elective, students will have the opportunity under the guidance/mentorship of the course director to develop their teaching skill. Participants will be responsible to teach during Student Interactive Learning Sessions (SILS), and Clinical Case Based Learning (CCBL) during M2 fall Endocrine course. Students will gain a better comprehension of endocrine course material necessary to be an effective teacher. This will occur through weekly review sessions and exposure to different teaching pedagogies. Students will aid in the preparation and presentation of all review sessions (2 hours each).
COM 908: Cardiovascular & Pulmonary TA
Course Director: John Lutch, MD
In this elective, students will have the opportunity under the guidance/mentorship of the course director to develop their teaching skill. Participants will be responsible for teaching during Student Interactive Learning Sessions (SILS), and Clinical Case Based Learning (CCBL) during the M1 Spring or M2 fall semesters when Cardiovascular and/or Pulmonary courses are delivered. Students will gain a better comprehension of endocrine course material necessary to be an effective teacher. This will occur through weekly review sessions and exposure to different teaching pedagogies. Students will aid in the preparation and presentation of all review sessions (2 hours each).
COM 909: Behavioral Medicine TA
Course Director: Martin Rubin, MD
In this elective, students will have the opportunity under the guidance/mentorship of the course director to develop their teaching skill. Participants will be responsible to teach during Student Interactive Learning Sessions (SILS), and Clinical Case Based Learning (CCBL) during M2 fall Behavioral Medicine course. Students will gain a better comprehension of endocrine course material necessary to be an effective teacher. This will occur through weekly review sessions and exposure to different teaching pedagogies. Students will aid in the preparation and presentation of all review sessions (2 hours each).