MD’23: September is an interesting month for fourth-year medical students. Around this time of year many of us are finishing up our away rotations as we finalize our residency applications. We all submitted our residency applications on September 28 which comes with a momentary sigh of relief as we transition from several months of tracking down letters of recommendations, updating CVs, and agonizing over getting the personal statement just right to waiting for interview invitations. The transition is strange, and while still stressful, it seems to be accompanied by a little more "free time" for many of us. I can say that in running into my peers around Providence and at Rhode Island Hospital, there is a shared feeling of excitement as we tell everyone what specialty we officially applied into and how we are using some of this new and strange "free time." The most incredible part about entering the interview season is that the MD Class of 2023 has all grown together these past four years, and while it is still a stressful time, there is a shared sense of pride for all that we accomplished to reach this point in our careers. I expect big things from my classmates - they are amazing people.

MD’24: The third-year students are in various clinical rotations, such as internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and more! It has been both an exciting and challenging year as we apply what we learned in the first two years of medical school to the clinical setting. We are getting more comfortable doing this and also figuring out what specialties we are potentially interested in applying into next year. In addition, our class is proud to have three of our classmates (Andrew Barton, Alex Albright, and Spencer Lyons - "The Terminators") win the first annual AMS Basketball Tournament held this past month - go MD’24! 

MD’25: The second-year students have just finished the pulmonary block and are beginning our studies of the kidney with the renal section. With the semester progressing, individuals in the Scholarly Concentration program are preparing research posters for the Academic Symposium which will be held in a couple of weeks. This event showcases the various projects second-year students completed over the summer, as well as research conducted by more senior students at the medical school. At the same time, we are enjoying the community sites for Doctoring, gaining real-world experience in clinics and hospitals that aligns with material taught in classes. With every site visit, we are getting one step closer to honing our clinical skills which will be used daily during clerkships!

MD’26: The first-year students are nearing the end of their third block where we covered GI structure and function along with biochem and topics on diet-related disease. We are getting more accustomed to the pace of medical school, finding our routines, and discovering new ways to learn. We have also begun to develop professional and clinical skills: the Doctoring curriculum is well underway and most students have met with their Doctoring mentor, conducted interviews and taken vital signs of standard patients, and begun their exploration of the nuances inherent in patient encounters.The most memorable moment this block took place on October 1, when we received our white coats in the Ceremony of Commitment to Medicine. This was a most anticipated event, made all the better by the friendships the class has developed with one another the last two months. It's all becoming real, and with perhaps equal parts nerves and excitement, the MD Class of 2026 marches on. 

PLME:  All PLME students are busy with our undergraduate studies with the first round of midterms approaching. First-year PLME students recently carried on the tradition of PLME Wars, an engaging field day filled with class bonding activities and friendly competition between advising dean groups. This year, Dean Roth’s group took home the victory, earning the Golden Stethoscope. Freshmen students also had their first Whole Patient dinner program with Dr. Kremsdorf, a pediatric nephrologist. Senior students have been attending lectures led by various physicians followed by peer-led discussions with medical students on topics such as racial and health disparities, physician mental health, and palliative care in the PLME Senior Seminar Course led by Dean Mayer.