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The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education

New York, NY 10031
United States

Founded at City College in 1973, The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education was founded to recruit underrepresented minorities into medicine, increase medical services in historically underserved areas, and increase the availability of primary care physicians.the_sophie_davis_school_of_biomedical_education1.jpg

We offer two unique and challenging programs leading to careers in medicine:

Our innovative five-year BS-MD Program integrates undergraduate education with the first two years of medical school. Students graduate with a BS degree from City College and move on to complete their final two years towards the M.D. in one of six cooperating medical schools – Albany Medical College, Dartmouth Medical School, New York Medical College, NYU School of Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine.

Our Physician Assistant (PA) Program is a 28-month upper division program leading to a BS degree and certification as a Physician Assistant. It was one of the first baccalaureate degree-granting physician assistant programs in the country.

The School has a small faculty of thirty-five full-time members, and professors fulfill various functions: they teach; they advise; and they pursue research projects with support from prestigious external funders such as the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, National Foundation of Infectious Diseases, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Josiah Macy Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a number of other private foundations. Many of our students work on these projects with our faculty and learn first-hand the relationship between basic science and medical research.

the_sophie_davis_school_of_biomedical_education2.jpgThe student body is also small – 350 in the BS-MD Program and 60 or 90 in the PA Program, depending on the time of year. Both programs have students go through the curriculum as a cohort, with students taking the same courses and sections throughout their years at Sophie Davis, with very few electives. The small size of the faculty and student body, as well as the uniformity of course experiences produces a closeness and intimacy that is quite unique and special.

Our alumni are also key players. Alumni are providing mentorships to our students and returning to campus to speak in both informal and formal settings. In the past month, first year students excitedly gathered around two recent alumni who gave a detailed picture of what their lives were like as practicing physicians. Such events inspire our students and reconfirm their commitment.

Both the concept and practice of The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education reinforce the City University's mission as a unique educational fount from which great futures can be attained by anyone with the grit and passion to learn.

The mission of The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at The City College of New York is to produce broadly-educated, highly-skilled primary care practitioners to provide quality services to underserved communities.

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  • We recruit and educate a diverse, talented pool of students to the BS-MD and the Physician Assistant programs, expanding access to medical education to individuals from underserved communities, of limited financial resources, and of ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in the medical profession.
  • Programs of The Sophie Davis School achieve academic excellence through rigorous curricula in clinically-oriented basic sciences, population health, research, exposure to a variety of health care settings, and professional development.

Vision : access – excellence – community

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