Teaching Opportunities in the Curriculum

Practice of Medicine (POM) I and II are established MS1 and MS2 longitudinal core courses in the COAST Curriculum. They are offered every Wednesday afternoon from the last week of August until the second week of June each year, with in-person sessions from 1-5 p.m.. The course ensures knowledge of pre-clerkship level history taking, physical examination, communication skills, and patient counseling, as well as components of physician professional identity formation. In addition to ensuring students are ready for the associated portions of USMLE licensure examinations, POM prepares students to engage with more advanced clinical care in their MS3 clerkships.

The POM co-director will partner with the existing POM co-director in curriculum development, as well as providing direction, leadership and instruction on a continuing basis to the students and staff associated with the course. This position has primary responsibility for assuring students acquire the knowledge base, skills and attitudes regarding patient care interactions necessary for pre-clerkship level training. The POM co-director is expected to develop goals and objectives related to clinical medicine that support a broad foundation of medical skills and knowledge, as well as habits of self-directed learning. They are responsible for the implementation of the course’s educational objectives.

 Program Planning and Implementation

• Design, plan, implement and evaluate all aspects of the POM I and II course in coordination with the other POM co-director and key stakeholders.
• Support, train, and supervise a team of funded, small group facilitators who work longitudinally with the POM I and II students.
• Collaborate and coordinate with all other pre-clinical course directors to ensure alignment of content and implementation of appropriate experiences to meet curricular goals. 
• Participate in COAST Curriculum Steering Committee and associated curricular meetings; participate in Progress Week preparation and administration and evaluation; review and support individual and collective student progress, including service on the CLEAR Committee, address course related issues and long range, strategic planning of course goals and objectives.  
• Liaise with multiple individuals and teams, including but not limited to clerkship directors, Professional Development Center staff, and other collaborative partners and stakeholders, to ensure strong communication, support, and planning of educational activities.
• Work closely with POM coordinators to ensure that content and logistics are accurate and well-organized for both students and facilitators.

 Teaching Activities

• Participate in teaching activities related to the POM I and II courses.
• Teaching methods will include lecture, discussion, reflection, small groups, hands-on examination sessions with peers, standardized patients, and real patients, demonstrations, group observed clinical exercises, interdisciplinary exercises, seminars, and other methods as appropriate.
• Assist students in developing the clinical knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to become an compassionate and competent physician.
• Evaluate student performance considering course objectives; provide feedback to students as part of the development of appropriate skills and attitudes

 Individual Student Mentoring and Advising

• Advise medical students on academic issues related to the course.
  Provide guidance to students in strengthening their understanding of Practice of Medicine Course content and skills.
• Liaise with student course representatives to ensure strong communication and support.
• Create and implement individualized support plans for students when relevant.

 This is a Core Pre-Clerkship level course, and the POM I and II course co-director will receive financial and administrative support consistent with School of Medicine policies, which currently assigns 0.5 FTE of time allocation, currently funded at 75% for a total of 0.375 effective FTE to each co-director.

 The successful candidate will have substantial content expertise in clinically relevant patient care interactions and will express a vision of how to successfully convey this expertise to pre-clerkship level learners.

 As POM I and II involve substantial behavioral health components, expertise in behavioral health care, as well as the ability to lead a team of behavioralist small group facilitators, will be taken into consideration in applicant selection.

 Application Deadline and Contact:  The deadline for submission is Friday, April 24, 2026. Please submit your C.V. and Letter of Intent to Jennifer Denson at jdenson@health.ucsd.edu.

Gastrointestinal System and Nutrition (GSN) is an established MS1 and PS1/2 core course in the COAST Curriculum. It is offered annually in the fall quarter over a 3-4 week period from late November until mid-December each year, with regular in-person sessions on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8-10a.m. The course teaches physiologic, histological and pharmacologic principles of the digestive systems, and the physiological and biochemical basics of human nutrition at the pre-clerkship level. In addition, the course ensures that medical students are ready for the relevant portions of USMLE licensure examinations and prepares them to engage with clinically oriented studies in the following Gastrointestinal Disease course during their MS2 year.

 The GSN assistant director will partner with the GSN course director in providing oversight and instruction on a continuing basis to students and leadership to administrative support staff for the course. The assistant director will assist the course director in meeting the primary responsibility for assuring that students acquire the knowledge base, skills and attitudes regarding the gastrointestinal system and nutrition that is necessary for pre-clerkship level training. The assistant director will also help to develop goals and objectives related to clinical medicine that support a broad foundation of medical skills and knowledge, as well as habits of self-directed learning.

 Program Planning and Implementation

• Design, plan, implement and evaluate all aspects of the GSN course in coordination with the GSN director.
• Collaborate with other course directors and the pharmacology thread director to develop/design and implement appropriate experiences to meet curricular goals. 
• Participate in COAST Curriculum Steering Committee and associated curricular meetings; participate in progress week preparation and execution; review student progress, including service on the CLEAR Committee, address course related issues and long range, strategic planning of course goals and objectives.  

 Teaching Activities

• Participate in teaching activities related to the GSN course. 
• Teaching methods will include lecture, discussion, seminars and other methods as appropriate.
• Assist students in developing the basic and clinical knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to become an outstanding physician.
• Evaluate student performance considering instructional goals; provide feedback to students as part of the development of appropriate skills and attitudes.

 Individual Student Mentoring and Advising

• Advise medical students on academic issues related to the course. 
• Provide guidance to students in the development and/or continuance and implementation of activities related to developing mastery of the course material.  

 This is a core pre-clerkship level course in the School of Medicine, and the assistant director of the GSN course will receive financial and administrative support consistent with School of Medicine policies, subject to agreement between the successful candidate, the current GSN Director, and the School of Medicine dean’s office.

 The successful candidate will have substantial content expertise in the area of gastrointestinal system physiology and medicine and in the basics of human nutrition, and will express a vision of how to successfully convey this expertise to pre-clerkship level learners.

 Application Deadline and Contact:  The deadline for submission is Friday, May 1, 2026. Please submit your C.V. and letter of intent to Jennifer Denson at jdenson@health.ucsd.edu.