Boston University Medical Campus: A Legacy of Education, Research, and Social Justice

The Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC), nestled in Boston's historic South End, stands as a beacon of education, research, and community service. Comprising the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and Chobanian & Avedisian SOM’s Graduate Medical Sciences, BUMC is dedicated to training future healthcare leaders and advancing knowledge to improve lives, particularly for disadvantaged, underserved, and indigent populations. Together with the Charles River Campus and the Fenway Campus, BUMC forms an integral part of Boston University. The Boston University Shuttle (BUS) facilitates transport of students, staff, and faculty between campuses.

A Historical Foundation

BUMC's roots trace back to 1848 with the establishment of the New England Female Medical College. This pioneering institution was the first in the United States to offer medical education to women and the first to graduate a black female physician, marking a significant milestone in the history of medical education. In 1873, the medical college merged with Boston University, creating the nation's first coeducational School of Medicine. This commitment to equal education for women and men remains a core value of the institution.

Core Mission and Educational Excellence

The core mission of the Campus is training the next generation of physicians, dentists and scientists. Boston University provides today’s health sciences students with distinguished and committed faculty, thoughtful and humanistic mentoring, state-of-the-art learning facilities, and clinical experiences in one of New England’s most respected teaching hospitals, Boston Medical Center (BMC), as well as in other locations in the Boston area and internationally. Nearly 3,000 full and part time, affiliate and volunteer Medical Campus faculty provide educational programs for more than 3,700 full- and part-time MD, dental and graduate students.

The Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

The Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine was established in 1873 when the University assumed responsibility for the New England Female Medical College. Among its historic distinctions are its commitment to equal education for women and men and the development of the nation’s first academically affiliated Home Medical Service. In more recent decades, the School developed an extensive program of biomedical research based in several major research facilities.

The school's commitment to social justice is woven into the curriculum explicitly. Students engage in various activities that reflect this focus during their free time. A significant development is the recent $100 million gift, with $50 million earmarked for financial aid, increasing the maximum scholarship award and aiming to meet the full demonstrated financial need of students.

The curriculum has been reorganized, moving away from lectures to a flipped classroom, team-based learning format for the first two years. This hands-on approach involves small group discussions, problem-solving, workshops, and labs, requiring attendance and active participation. Content is delivered through self-learning guides with reading materials, videos, animations, and questions for discussion and self-assessment. The goal is to foster a deeper understanding of the material and encourage more advanced, thoughtful questions.

Clinical Affiliations and Community Engagement

BUMC's location in Boston and its affiliations with a diverse network of healthcare providers significantly influence the educational experience. Students have the opportunity to rotate through the VA and Boston Medical Center, and at a number of federally-qualified neighborhood health centers affiliated with Boston Medical Center. These include community health centers with specific patient populations, such as Spanish-speaking patients at East Boston Community Health Center and African-American populations at Dorchester House and Codman Square. These centers offer comprehensive services, including dental care, food pantries, and integrated behavioral health, exposing students to the broader scope of healthcare needed to keep people healthy.

In addition to Boston Medical Center, a large academic medical center, BUMC has affiliations with community hospitals. This allows students to understand the different ways medicine is practiced in various settings and avoid the assumption that the practices of a single hospital are the only correct way. Exposure to different settings also highlights the varying resources available and the need to adapt treatment strategies accordingly.

Research and Innovation

Research is an integral part of BUMC's mission. The institution's research programs have become nationally prominent among research-intensive departments of medicine. The income from the Evans Endowment has been used over the course of the department’s history to invest in research faculty, infrastructure, and program development.

The Evans Memorial Department of Clinical Research

The Evans Memorial Department of Clinical Research was established on June 19, 1910, when Mrs. Maria Antoinette Evans made the first in a series of gifts to University Hospital (then Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital) to endow a research department of medicine. Her purpose was to create a memorial to her husband, Robert Dawson Evans, a very successful businessman, whose estate also provided a wing for Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The current Evans Building, which is the third structure to house the ever-growing Department, was dedicated in 1971. It contains more than 100,000 square feet of research laboratories and offices for the staff of the Department of Medicine. This building was purchased by Boston University in fiscal year 2000.

The faculty are organized in a number of Sections, which include not only the usual medical subspecialties but also a number of special research sections such as Computational Biomedicine, Vascular Biology, Preventive Medicine, Genetic Biomedicine, and Clinical Epidemiology. Each of the sections of the department has substantial research programs that are supported by extramural peer-reviewed grant support from federal and private sources. Examples of particularly strong research program include those in tuberculosis, HIV, sexually-transmitted disease, pulmonary inflammation, lung development, stem cell biology, metabolic disease and obesity, myocardial dysfunction, endothelial function in disease states, asthma, androgens, thyroid disease, diabetes, glomerular disease, genetics of neurodegenerative disorders, vascular biology, pulmonary hypertension, renal ischemic injury, mitochondrial function, treatment of substance abuse, geriatrics, disparities in health outcomes, sickle cell disease, amyloid, vasculitis, scleroderma, and epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, particularly through the Framingham Heart Study.

The department established the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research in 2009. The Evans Center was designed to catalyze interdisciplinary research initiatives identified by faculty. Resources provided by the Evans Center have resulted in 50 funded research proposals and participation by 150 faculty and nearly 100 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows since inception of the center. The department also established the first section of Computational Biomedicine among departments of medicine in 2009. The section of Computational Biomedicine has grown to include 9 faculty, 21 trainees and has secured 11 new extramural grants over its initial three years. Substantial investments in research core infrastructure have been made to more fully leverage state of the art instrumentation and expertise in research. In 2011-12, approximately 100 different faculty used one or more of the department’s research cores and users of the cores have generated $36 m in extramural research funding from 2009-12. Among the department’s innovative cores, a state of the art digital tiered storage system was established in 2011.

Research Opportunities for Students

While research experience is not a requirement for applicants, the majority of matriculates have engaged in research. This reflects the importance of intellectual curiosity and a lifelong commitment to learning, qualities that are highly valued in the medical profession.

Training and Graduate Programs

Just preceding the formation of BMC, the respective residency programs of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Hospital merged to form a single residency program. The residency currently includes 151 residents and has a Primary Care track available. The residents rotate through the VA and Boston Medical Center, and at a number of federally-qualified neighborhood health centers affiliated with Boston Medical Center. The department also provides additional training to over clinical 115 fellows in the specialties of internal medicine and approximately 100 post-doctoral fellows. In addition to clinical training, the Department established a Ph.D. Graduate Training Program in Molecular Medicine in 1999 that has awarded 55 Ph.D.’s. The GPMM currently has 60 graduate students enrolled in the program. In 2009, the department designed a Ph.D. graduate training program in Nutrition and Metabolism.

Holistic Admissions

BUMC employs a holistic approach to medical school admissions, considering a wide range of factors beyond academic achievements. A human reads every single application. The applications are reviewed and a structured rubric is used to make sure that each application is evaluated, that the same things are looked for in each application. The reviewers evaluate them with each of those different metrics, and then give a score to each of those different metrics. After a round of reviews, the top 20% are designated for interview.

Read also: History of the BU Bridge

Public Safety

The BUMC Public Safety Department, comprised of about 125 public safety officers, ensures the safety and security of the campus. These officers provide motorist assistance, lost and found services, and night escort services. Many officers have arrest powers as Special State Police Officers and respond to high-stress and emergency situations. The department conducts investigations for violations of University and/or Hospital policies and procedures, and suspected criminal acts.

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