Medical degrees aren't obsolete. We have to change how we teachAlan Kadish |
Every March, thousands of medical students gather for Match Day — the moment they learn which residency programs will define the next phase of their careers. This year, as I prepare to watch our students open their envelopes, I feel confident. Not because the profession they’re entering is stable. It isn’t. The landscape is shifting faster than at any point in my four decades in academic medicine. But because we’ve prepared them for exactly that.
AI-assisted diagnostics are moving from experimental to standard practice. Federal health policy is being restructured in real time. The very definition of what it means to be a physician is being rewritten. When students commit to a specialty on Match Day, they’re making a decision that will shape 30 to 40 years of their careers. How do you train someone for a world you can’t fully predict?
The answer isn’t to abandon medical education. It’s to fundamentally rethink what medical schools owe their students. A medical education’s enduring value lies not in transmitting static knowledge, but in forging practitioners capable of adapting to rapid, continuous change. The question isn’t whether to pursue a medical degree. It’s what kind of medical education prepares you for what’s coming.
The disruptions........