Pritzker News
Students participate in layered mentoring across classes through participation in the Pritzker Societies, named for four of our most distinguished faculty
October 2005 – There is a great deal of discussion in the medical education literature of what is called “the hidden curriculum,” referring not to what is explicitly taught in the classroom or clinic, but to the broader environment in which education takes place. Recognizing its potency and formative nature, the faculty and deans of our school have chosen to take active steps to ensure that our curriculum – both written and unwritten – promotes an environment that reflects our best traditions and most important values. Therefore, this year, the school launched the Pritzker Societies, named in honor of four key figures who played an important role in developing the culture of our institution. The purpose of the societies is to ensure that each and every student knows that there is a faculty member available to the student throughout all the years of medical school. Further, recognizing that building a career is a longitudinal process, not a discrete event, the societies provide a context and opportunity for gaining advice over time from a broad array of individuals, ranging from peers to those students who are farther along in their training to the faculty. Each society contains a balanced number of students drawn from all years, thereby breaking down barriers between classes and promoting peer-to-peer layered mentoring. Students are also matched with one of five faculty members assigned to each society as advisors. In addition to the programs and social events sponsored by the societies, faculty members will meet individually with each student and with smaller subgroups to provide the advising and mentoring that is crucial to students’ academic, career, and professional development.
In his final address as President of the AAMC at the November, 2005 meeting, Dr. Jordan Cohen asked us to serve as stewards of an important legacy, “to develop, not undermine our students’ character; to fortify the idealism that motivated them to choose medicine in the first place; to strengthen their moral fiber by conscious, conspicuous, and conscientious role modeling – in other words to prepare them to be professionals.” Perhaps the most important legacy evolving from the Pritzker Societies will be the opportunity that they provide for our students to take part in passing along the great traditions of our school and our profession.
The four advising societies are named for key figures who made seminal contributions to research, clinical care, and education at the University of Chicago.
DeLee Society – Named for Joseph Bolivar DeLee (1869-1942) who is often called the father of modern obstetrical care. In 1914, Dr. DeLee established was later became Chicago Lying-In Hospital.
- Co-Leaders: Herbert Abelson, MD (Pediatrics) and Monica Vela, MD (Medicine)
- Advisors: John Schumann, MD (Medicine), Lawrence Casalino, MD (Health Studies), Susan Glick MD (Medicine), Deborah Spitz, MD (Psychiatry)
Coggeshall Society – Named for Lowell T. Coggeshall (1901-1987) who served as Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Medical School of the University of Chicago for 16 years. Dr. Coggeshall's greatest contribution to American medical education was his role in reshaping the AAMC into an effective voice for academic medicine.
- Co-Leaders: Mindy Schwartz, MD (Medicine) and Don Scott, MD (Medicine)
- Advisors: Kerstin Stenson, MD (Surgery), Ben Van Voorhees (Medicine-Pediatrics), MD, John Hickner, MD (Family Medicine)
Huggins Society – Named for Charles B. Huggins (1901-1997) who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1966 for his pioneering discoveries regarding the relationship between hormones and prostate cancer.
- Co-Leaders: Shalini Reddy, MD (Medicine) and Darrel Waggoner, MD (Human Genetics)
- Advisors: Dana Suskind, MD (Surgery), Nanah Park, MD (Pediatrics), David Rubin, MD (Medicine)
Phemister Society – Named for Dallas B. Phemister (1882-1951) who was the first professor of surgery in the new Billings Hospital at the University of Chicago where he served as chair from 1927 to 1947.
- Co-Leaders: David Howes, MD (Emergency Medicine) and Halina Brukner, MD (Medicine)
- Advisors: William Harper, MD (Medicine), Sandy Valaitis, MD (Obstetrics-Gynecology), Barrett Fromme, MD (Pediatrics)
Please click here for more information about the Pritzker Societies.
