The Medical School’s Mission and the Population’s Health

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Redefining the Mission of the Medical School

   • Kerr L. White, Julia E. Connelly

   Pages 1-22

3. The Social Contract and the Medical School’s Responsibilities

   • Thomas S. Inui

   Pages 23-59

4. Measuring the Burden of Illness in General Populations

   • Michael G. Marmot, Anthony B. Zwi

   Pages 60-112

5. The Potential and Organization of Health Intelligence Units

   • Victor R. Neufeld, Robert A. Spasoff

   Pages 113-131

6. Population-Based Medicine: A Case Study from a Traditional School

   • Mutya San Agustin

   Pages 132-163

7. A Community and Population-Oriented Medical School: Newcastle, Australia

   • John D. Hamilton

   Pages 164-207

8. Essential Institutional Competencies for Population-Based Education

   • David H. H. Metcalfe

   Pages 208-233

9. Essential Population-Based Competencies for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Students

   • Robert D. Cohen

   Pages 234-256

10. Balancing Perspectives

    • Kerr L. White, Julia E. Connelly

    Pages 257-266

11. Back Matter

    Pages 267-281

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Medical schools exist as part of a complex educational and health care sys­ tem with affiliations to universities, teaching hospitals, outpatient clinics, students, and communities. Those of us who serve as trustees and volunteers on boards and commit­ tees of medical schools carry obvious responsibilities for the performance of the institution with regard to those affiliations, including those that relate to the community. By what criteria, and by what standards, do we as trustees assess that performance? For trustees of medical schools, I suggest that the most im­ portant criteria are those concerned with the purpose for which the school was originally established and those that relate to the community that sup­ ports it and is served by it. For a medical school performance criteria should be defined in a statement of purpose: the "mission" of the school. This mission statement should pro­ vide trustees with direction on such vital matters as the following: What does the medical school seek to accomplish? Whom does it serve? Where is it going? What is the relationship to the geographic region or other community that it may seek to serve? Such questions are stated more easily than they are answered, but they should be asked. For trustees who are responsible for the education of stu­ dents, the management of faculty, and the stewardship of funds they are a matter of serious concern.

• Gesundheitswesen
• Medical School
• Medizinstudium
• education
• epidemiology
• health
• healthcare
• medical education
• medicine
• population
• public health

• The Rockefeller Foundation, New York, Charlottesville, USA

  Kerr L. White

• University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, USA

  Julia E. Connelly

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