injustice – it was a surprise to no one that our students found their voice . It is , after all , what led them here . The pandemic , blamed for more than 250,000 U . S . deaths , and nearly 1.4 million worldwide , as of mid-November , is bringing disproportionate harm to minorities and others in medically underserved communities – the same communities spelled out in this medical school ’ s mission statement . What kind and how much societal change these interconnected events ultimately produce won ’ t be fully understood for years , but the College of Medicine was quick to add new courses , make other curricular changes and to join in a clarion call for change . FSU MED opened these pages to the voices of students , alumni and faculty to share what people have been thinking about during an epic year :
“ The first step in enduring change is to recognize the problem and I think that ’ s what happened in 2020 : We paused for a minute and really saw some of the issues that are affecting our country , our world , and from here on it ’ s going to take a lot of time and continued push to make those changes .” Jordan Carbono ( M . D . ’ 20 ), internal medicine resident in Orlando
January
• The World Health Organization ( WHO ) tweets about an investigation into a “ pneumonia of unknown cause ” in Wuhan , Hubei Province , People ’ s Republic of China .
• WHO reports Chinese authorities identified a novel coronavirus as the cause .
“ What we learned in the sandbox , treating people the way we want to be treated , and loving one another : If we did that as a society we wouldn ’ t have many of these problems . But we live in an imperfect world , where we are going to have hate – and we have to combat it with love .”
Cortez Brown , M . D . Class of ‘ 21
February
• Conversations begin regarding the potential need to move classes online .
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FALL ' 20