Pre-Clerkship Interview on Anatomy and Physiology, Part I: Dr. Rosalyn Ferguson
Dr. Rosalyn Ferguson is Co-Director with Dr. Victor Chaban of the Anatomy and Physiology component of the Pre-Clerkship curriculum.
Rosalyn P.( Scott) Ferguson, MD, MSHA is Professor of Surgery at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York University School of Medicine and University of Colorado College of Business, Dr. Ferguson has held key faculty positions in both colleges of medicine and engineering. She is the first African-American female cardiothoracic surgeon. Recently rejoining the faculty at Drew, she is contributing to the curricular development and integration of educational technologies for the new independent medical education program.
In addition to her career as a cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Ferguson has been recognized internationally for her simulation and technology contributions. She has led major multidisciplinary simulation-based projects in the Veterans Health Administration using virtual reality, tasks trainers, mannequins, and novel computer-based educational strategies. These efforts led to being awarded the Under Secretary for Health Excellence in Clinical Simulation Training, Education, and Research Practice Award for her innovative work.
How will participation in the pre clerkship program benefit students?
Well, it gives them the foundation to understand health and to understand disease. Because in order to care for patients, you really have to understand how their body functions and what are the details of all of their organs. So in this pre clerkship program, that’ s where we learn about all the different organs of the body. The anatomy, what the body looks like under a microscope or how parts of the body looked like under a microscope. What they look like with radiologic imaging, and what they look like during surgery if you were going to operate on them.
Then, understand what normal function is before you can begin to understand where the body goes wrong in the presence of disease. The effect of the environment and how you treat your own body can have an impact on disease. So, your own lifestyle is very important for many disease conditions. This all gives you the foundation to become an excellent doctor.
How does developing the program add depth to the overall university academic curriculum?
I think that many of the things that we’ re going to be doing in the pre-clerkship program can really be a benefit to many of the other programs in the Universities such as the PA program, the nursing school, the radiologic technician training program, as well as the undergraduate program in Health Sciences and the master’ s level programs that they have., All that we will do can enhance those programs. Working together with some interdisciplinary programs is also very beneficial. Today, medicine is so dependent upon working with other members of the healthcare team.
Let’ s discuss the specifics of your pre clerkship. Please clarify what area you’ re working in.
We also are looking what will be the organization of the cardiovascular and respiratory units in the school. In that area we’ re looking at how to integrate some anatomy in more detail than what would be covered
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 17