June 04, 2010 03:09am EST 

Few medical schools in the Deep South have celebrated their 175th anniversary. In fact, few medical schools in the United States can claim such an accomplishment. The Tulane University School of Medicine stands as the second oldest medical school in the Deep South and the 16th oldest medical school in the entire United States. The historical school is one of the most recognized centers for medical education in the nation. A vibrant center for education, research and public service, the Tulane University School of Medicine was founded in 1834 and is located in the heart of downtown historic New Orleans. With academic departments ranging from anesthesiology to urology, the school offers a wide spectrum of academic studies for their students, producing physicians capable of providing high-quality medical services to those in need.
The diversity in its mission stands in its commitment to education, research and patient care. The School of Medicine is continually developing centers and programs of excellence to reach this mission, including the Tulane Cancer Center, Center for Gene Therapy, Center for Infectious Disease, the Tulane Hospital for Children and many more. However, its diversity goes beyond its centers of excellence and its study fields. In fact, the defining characteristic of Tulane University School of Medicine is its student body, among the most diverse of all the nation’s medical schools. In conjunction with the excellent faculty, curriculum, research programs, the diversity of students has led to the development of a true academic community in which students learn in a non-hostile environment.
In recent news, the School of Medicine has received a three-year, $411,400 grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation to launch the Rural Immersion Program. The program offers a group of third-year medical students the opportunity to reside in a rural Louisiana community and train in that setting while also applying a public health focus to their education.
“Louisiana’s severe shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas, has persisted or worsened despite the graduation of 400 new physicians and the training of 1,500 medical residents in the state each year,” states Dr. Richard Streiffer, professor and chair of Family and Community Medicine at Tulane’s School of Medicine. “Our new program will direct a pool of medical students each year towards rural practice. The traditional medical education approach and setting, which is based in urban and tertiary facilities, simply has not done that.”
The students will spend almost a year of their medical education in a rural community where they will learn from both rural life and rural medicine. As part of their duties, the students will deliver patient care under the oversight of an experience physician in the rural community. The program fulfills Tulane’s commitment to address community health needs in a unique, innovative way, bringing together Tulane University School of Medicine and rural Louisiana.
What sets the School of Medicine apart is its commitment to the community. In the days immediately following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, medical residents and faculty from Tulane University School of Medicine set up urgent care at six sites in the streets of New Orleans. The experience not only engendered great satisfaction and learning, but also clearly indicated the importance of providing more community-based care to help heal the city and improve the health of its citizens. The immediate post-Katrina challenges also added an important new dimension to the educational experience at Tulane University.
Since Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University School of Medicine has been at the forefront of the movement to rebuild a health system that provides all New Orleans residents access to high quality, neighborhood-based primary care. Our faculty, residents and students are involved in numerous community programs serving the most vulnerable populations throughout the city.
Graduating approximately 40 percent of all physicians in the U.S. with both M.D. and master of public health degrees, Tulane University School of Medicine continues to educate, research, and care for patients in the only way that they know how: with excellence.