A New Curriculum for a New Age

The HEALS Curriculum is a dynamic educational program designed to train the next generation of physicians.  

The David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) at UCLA launched a new curriculum designed to evolve along with changes in science and medicine.

Our Redesign Process View the Full Heals Curriculum Schematic (PNG)

Themes Integrated Across the HEALS Curriculum 

New and emerging areas are continually integrated into the medical school curriculum by our expert faculty.

 

UCLA Health protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement

Structural Racism and Health Equity

Diversity isn't a buzzword. It’s a requirement to treat our communities with clinical excellence. Our community is made up of talented leaders who care deeply and work to impact the world for good. We have a collective commitment to combat structural racism. That commitment spans healthcare, education, and our society at large.

Community and Equity

Medical school students working in a lab

Discovery

DGSOM Discovery is a required component of the medical school curriculum to provide third-year medical students with a nearly year-long period of protected time for a deep and substantive creative and scholarly experience in an area of their interest. The program encourages the acquisition of attitudes and skills for self-directed, lifelong learning and scholarship.

Year Three Curriculum

Medical student enjoying Geffen Hall

Interprofessional Education

Meaningful partnerships with teachers, learners, and experts across a range of disciplines and functional areas simulate the optimal collaborative-care environment students will engage in throughout their medical careers.

Students looking at monitor during Pocus Intro Course

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Medical students develop skills, expertise, and confidence using an invaluable diagnostic tool that improves patient outcomes and precision of care.

POCUS Education

Medical school student in classroom

Ethics and Humanities

A robust focus on ethics and humanities in the medical school curriculum helps students develop into physicians who practice patient-centered, just, and humanistic medicine. Through an exploration of real case analyses, historical and current events, philosophical arguments, literature, visual arts, performing arts, and creative and reflective writing, students gain skills in critical thinking, ethical communication, and professional development. In this curriculum, students not only examine the moral foundations of medicine, their obligations to patients and society, and the human experiences of health and illness, but also cultivate their own moral identity as physicians, taking responsibility for caring equitably and compassionately for all patients. 

HEALS Curriculum: Year by Year

Your UCLA Journey

 

Year One - MS1

A focus on case-based learning for students to think like a physician from the first year of medical school. Four core courses comprise the year.

Year One - MS1 

Year Two - MS2

Eight clerkship offerings integrated with continued learning in science and many new and emerging topics.

Year Two - MS2

Year Three - MS3

A period of protected time for a deep and substantive creative and scholarly experience in an area of their interest.

Year Three - MS3 

Year Four - MS4

Electives and capstone. The final stretch to being a physician leader and more.

Year Four - MS4

Required Course Objectives

Discover our specific course objectives. Guided by national standards and crafted by our expert faculty.

HEALS Course Objectives