Ahead of the Career Curve: Medical School in Three Years
The Accelerated Pathway to Residency Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine offers students the opportunity to earn an M.D. in three years.
There are many paths to, and through, medical school.
Future physicians are motivated and accomplished, but they’re not all on the same career trajectory. Many first-year medical students aren’t sure what kind of residency they’ll apply for in three years. Others know from day one.
For the former, year four provides clinical rotations through a variety of specialties. For the latter, those rotations might not be as important as getting ahead of the curve in their careers and saving a year’s tuition.
The Accelerated Pathway to Residency Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine offers qualifying students the opportunity to earn an M.D. in three years. Students match with a residency within the University of Miami/Jackson Health System during their third years.
The program is designed for students like Victoria Gomez and Lauren Nagel. They’re in their second year at the Miller School and committed to a specialty before they began their medical training.
Always Drawn to Women’s Health
Gomez always knew she wanted to be a physician. As a child, “I asked for a doctor’s kit for Christmas,” she said.
And she’s long been drawn to women’s health. In elementary school, she started a recess club to talk about periods and puberty. When Gomez was an undergraduate at the University of Miami, she shadowed a friend’s mother, an OB/GYN.
“I fell in love with what she does,” she said of her time observing deliveries and seeing patients in the clinic. “I remember going with her to an early-morning C-section and standing in the corner of the operating room watching a baby come into the world. I cried more than the kid. I called my mom on the way home from the hospital that morning and said, ‘I might just have to do this for the rest of my life.’”
Accelerated pathway students complete an academic project in their specialty area. Gomez, a self-described, lifelong “theater kid” who minored in theater as a University of Miami undergraduate, decided to write a play about women’s health and obstetrics for her project.
“It brings together my love of humanities and creativity,” she said.
Studying the Fundamentals of the Atom
Nagel plans on a career in radiation oncology. Her introduction to medicine came through her father, a family practice physician, and her mother, a nurse. She learned about radiation oncology at age 11, when her 13-year-old sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor and treated with radiation.
“I certainly didn’t realize at that time how deep my interest in the field would go,” she said.
Nagel’s sister is alive and well and studying to be a nurse. For Nagel, the experience sparked a curiosity that, over time, developed into a strong passion. Ultimately, she was inspired to learn about nuclear physics and the fundamentals of the atom. But she wasn’t sure whether she would pursue medicine or engineering. After earning her B.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Florida, she received an M.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan. At that point she faced a decision. Would she work as a nuclear physicist or pursue radiation oncology?
“Nuclear engineering is unique,” she said. “You study the fundamentals and it’s widely applicable.”
Nuclear physics looks at the basics of the atom, she said, and how to harness its energy.
“Once you understand that, you can figure out what to use it for,” Nagel said. “Bombs, medicine, treating cancer. It’s all based on the energy of atoms, so the next step is how you apply it.”
Medical school won out. After finishing her third year at the Miller School, she will begin a radiation oncology residency.
Nagel’s academic project involves an innovative clinical trial that explores the impact of virtual reality on patient outcomes for head and neck cancers.
“We just enrolled our first patient last week,” she said.
She is also involved in research projects examining how proton therapy may influence recurrence rates in different brain tumors and on the effects of physical activity on brain tumor outcomes following radiation therapy.
“Whether it’s women’s health, radiation oncology, family medicine or any other practice area, each path through medical school is a little different, said Nagel. “And the accelerated program will be different for everyone.”
Tags: medical education, Obstetrics and gynecology, Radiation oncology, student research