October 20, 1994: Vol26n7: Grant to med school will fund training opportunities in primary ca..

By LOIS BAKER
News Bureau Staff
The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB has received a
$500,000 grant from the New York State Department of Health to fund
projects to encourage students to become primary-care physicians. The
grant will supplement programs already under way and financed through
a $600,000, three-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson FoundationUs
Generalist Physician Initiative.
	The state funds will be used to increase training
opportunities for medical students in community offices and clinics,
with community physicians trained as educators and role models as
their teachers. 
	Specific projects to be funded by the new grant are:
	o Curriculum revision to integrate basic science and clinical
education, introduce patient-centered learning in the first two years
of medical school and shift third-year clerkships from hospitals to
community settings.
	o 	Expansion of the number of community academic-practice
sites - clinics, private offices and HMOs that are approved to
function as medical-school teaching centers - from 9 to 12.
	o 	Workshops and seminars to help full-time and
community-based faculty improve their teaching techniques and become
better teachers and mentors.
	o 	Two programs to increase exposure of medical students
to primary-care physicians - a paid summer externship program and a
primary-care club that sponsors a variety of programs and offers
chances to meet informally with primary-care physicians.
	RThis effort is a critical component of our comprehensive
program to restructure the health-care delivery system to one
emphasizing primary care,S Mark R. Chassin, New York State
commissioner of health, said of the grant. 
	John P. Naughton, UB vice president for clinical affairs and
dean of the medical school, said the school is proud to have competed
successfully with the stateUs other medical schools for the funds.
RThe award reflects the quality of the effort that exists in Buffalo,
and recognizes UBUs position as a leader in the needed effort to
participate in health-care reform,S he said.