History

Founders
• Sandra P. Levison, M.D., MACP
• Lucia Beck-Weiss, M.S.

Program History

In 1993, the Medical College of Pennsylvania became the first medical school in the country to completely integrate women's health issues into its curriculum.  In contrast to schools which present women's health as an occasional lecture or elective, we are committed to integrating women's health issues into every aspect of the curriculum. We emphasize the responsibility of all physicians in delivering women's health care.

The program was founded by Sandra Levison, M.D., and Lucia Beck Weiss, M.S., with initial funding from U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education to serve as a model for other institutions wishing to develop women's health curricula and as a clearinghouse for women's health information.

In March of 1996, the program, as part of the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership, was designated a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health by the Department of Health and Human Services. The program has developed resource materials such as the appended bibliography, a women's health library, and presentations on implementing women's health curricula have been made at numerous national meetings.

School History

In 1850, this country's first medical school for women was founded in Philadelphia. Today, as Drexel University College of Medicine, the institution continues its historic commitment to women's health education. Drexel University College of Medicine has two educational tracks:

• A traditional lecture-based track called the Interdisciplinary Foundations of Medicine (IFM)
• A case-based, problem-based track called the Program for Integrated Learning (PIL)

We initiated our women's health activities in PIL because curricular revision is more feasible than in the traditional track. The cases undergo regular revision, so new learning objectives are easier to insert. Women's health issues, including basic science, clinical and psychosocial aspects, have been integrated into many of the PIL teaching cases.

The process involves examination of all the cases to ensure equal representation of women and men and avoidance of stereotypes. Recognizing that diversity issues are important in diagnosing and treating women, we include opportunities for learning about racial, ethnic, economic, and lifestyle issues.

Cases have also been examined to include important content issues like domestic violence, menopause, eating disorders, premenstrual syndrome, osteoporosis, etc. Relevant gender differences in presentation or therapy between men and women have been highlighted in cases. These cases are available for use in other medical schools. In collaboration with the steering committee and course directors, the Women's Health Education Program has integrated women's health issues into the IFM curriculum. Women's health objectives have been developed for all of the twenty-five symptom-based modules for the first and second year curriculum which was implemented in August 1998.

After concentrating our efforts on the first two years of the medical school curriculum, we have expanded our women's health teaching into the third and fourth year clerkships and have developed a women's health pathway. We also offer a women's health elective for fourth year students and residents interested in more intense ambulatory women's health training. Additionally, women's health education has been integrated into the internal medicine residency program, under the leadership of the director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program.