The Doctor Is In The House House Advisory System Provides Medical Students with Enhanced Advising and Networking BY MELISSA F. PHETERSON
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t’s not often that medical schools look to Harry Potter for policy decisions. But when leaders at New York Medical College wanted to enhance the level of academic, career and personal support provided to each student in the School of Medicine (SOM), they took cues from the system of “houses” at the fictional Hogwarts School to create similar communities on campus. Under the House Advisory Deans program, each student immediately enters one of ten houses—not physical structures, but designated groups—with a house dean and a network of peers responsible for providing professional and personal advisement over the course of medical school: tracking academic progress, exploring career paths, discussing attitudes and ethics, and managing stress through mindfulness, nutrition, even yoga.
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“The core goal is that 100 percent of our students receive longitudinal mentorship and advising,” says Gladys M. Ayala, M.D., M.P.H., vice chancellor of student affairs and senior associate dean for student affairs, School of Medicine. “Because the Office of Medical Student Affairs had only two student affairs deans, it was very challenging to get to know all the students. We would know the student leaders as well as those students who were having challenges and those who took the initiative to come see a dean, but I always felt I wanted to really know them all—something that is not physically possible when you have more than 800 students.” At a meeting of the American Association of Medical Colleges, Dean Ayala recalls, she heard other medical students share their advisory program models. “It was then I knew we could build a new system to enhance advising and mentorship for our medical students.” Students had also approached her with the idea, having experienced the model at their undergraduate schools. Starting in 2012, with the help of Susan Rachlin, M.D., associate dean for student affairs, Dean Ayala researched the idea, sought student input, aligned resources and began to interview faculty members to serve as house deans. “I likened the system to Harry Potter so people could understand what we were doing,” Dr. Rachlin says. “When I found there were a handful of medical schools across the country using this type of house system, I took snippets of things I liked from each one.” The program formally began in June 2014 with 10 houses of 80 to 85 students each, led by a house dean, six of whom are New York Medical College alumni. Each house was named, with student input, after a distinguished, deceased alumnus or alumna of the College or a notable individual in NYMC history.