Welcome to the Class of 2011. I have spent much of my first year as dean of P&S learning about the people who make Columbia a leader in academic medicine and collaborating with students, faculty, alumni, and other friends to identify ways to strengthen our wonderful programs. Medical student education takes advantage of the depth and breadth of our research, patient care, and community outreach programs. Our professors are skilled at teaching in formal and informal settings, and our faculty care for patients whose conditions span the full spectrum of illness and health. We are proud to treat residents of our neighborhood as well as those who could obtain care anywhere but travel from around our city and around the globe for world-class care.

In meeting with students during my first year as dean, I have heard many times that students consider their interactions with fellow students to be a highlight of their time here. You will join a remarkably diverse group in terms of backgrounds and experiences, but all of you share the aspiration to become outstanding doctors. We will do our best to inspire you as you work toward your professional goals.

You are joining P&S at an especially opportune time. Our advisory deans program, a national model, is entering its fifth year, with experience in advising students during all four years of the curriculum. We are reshaping our curriculum into one that we hope will serve as a national model. Our Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy is hard at work on proposals to enhance teaching and, consequently, your learning experience. Finally, we continue to upgrade our facilities to optimize your educational experience inside and outside the classroom.

One of our priorities in developing a new curriculum will be to set you on a course of lifelong learning. In making a commitment to study medicine, you know that your educational responsibility will not end at graduation. We will teach you what you need to know now and, if we are doing our job right, will instill in you the interest and strategies to continue learning throughout your career.

I will look forward to meeting you as you embark on this most exciting phase of your professional career.

Lee Goldman, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences
Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine