Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine marked the beginning of a new academic year by welcoming 92 first-year medical students to campus for orientation, where the Class of 2023 spent a few days getting to know each other, Dartmouth, and the Upper Valley community.
During his opening address, Duane Compton, PhD, dean of the Geisel School of Medicine, paraphrased author T.S. Eliot by encouraging students to move beyond their comfort zone and take risks—only then will they know what they are capable of. Compton urged students to “take every opportunity you have to make something positive happen. Be active. Be engaged. Ask questions. Don’t be a spectator. Make the most of the next four years—it will go by quickly.”
This year also marks the implementation of Geisel’s new curriculum—an integrated organ-based system of course material throughout the entire four-year academic and clinical experience.
Also new for the Class of 2023, is a longitudinal coaching program connecting all incoming students with a faculty coach for the duration of their time at Geisel. This allows students to build close rapport, maintain consistent academic and professional support, and participate in small group and individual coaching sessions.
In welcoming remarks, Chris LaRocca, MD, former chair of the admissions committee, and a clinical associate professor of community and family medicine, said, “Over these next four years you will grow as individuals and as a class, sharing lots of hard work, fun, deep thought, vision and aspiration, caring, good food, and teamwork. Your classmates will come to be the people you count on.”
With 61 percent women and 39 percent men, the class includes 90 MD and two MD-PhD candidates who are as diverse in backgrounds and experiences, as they are in academic achievement and service. They represent a small percentage of the 7,378 applicants to Geisel via the American Medical College Application Service.
“We are excited to welcome the Class of 2023. Each of the students has been intentionally chosen to create this diverse and talented class. Our facilitators and coaches are looking forward to sharing our new integrated curriculum and coaching program with them,” said Roshini Pinto-Powell, MD, associate dean and chair of admissions, and associate professor of medicine and medical education. “It is going to be a fun year!”
