Just What We Need - More Dr. Guptas?

Mayo Clinic, which is just down the road from us and supposedly a great collaborator, has just announced a program to send students off to J-School at ASU in Phoenix? I wonder if they talked to the folks at the U of M J-school?

From the ASU web-site:

Mayo Medical Students to Study At Cronkite School

Two leading institutions in their respective fields – Mayo Clinic and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication – are joining forces to give future physicians intensive cross-platform journalism training.

The Mayo-Cronkite Fellowship will bring students from Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn., to Phoenix following their second year of medical studies for a condensed one-year master’s program at Arizona State University’s (ASU) nationally recognized journalism school.

Mayo-Cronkite Fellows will return to Rochester for their final two years of medical studies following the year-long immersion in journalism. Officials anticipate enrolling the first Mayo-Cronkite Fellows in August.

The new dual-degree program is part of Mayo’s interdisciplinary approach to medical education. “Mayo Medical School is pioneering a fundamentally new way of educating physicians for the 21st century,” said Dr. Keith D. Lindor, dean of Mayo Medical School. “Our reason: We see health care challenges ahead that will require far more creative, interdisciplinary problem solving from physicians than ever before.”

“We’re very excited about this new collaboration that brings together national leaders in their respective fields of study,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “The Mayo-Cronkite program will produce leading physicians who have the ability to tell important, complex and nuanced medical stories to wide audiences on any platform – print, broadcast or online. That is a rare and powerful combination of skills.”

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This development raises a lot of questions that the University of Minnesota should consider. What, exactly, is the long term relationship going to be between Mayo and the U of M? Did Mayo explore the possibility of a program like this with the U, which has an excellent J-School?

And of course do we need more Dr. Guptas? Does it really make sense to use a year for very many med students for this purpose? Couldn't the time be better spent on ethics, evaluating evidence, health disparities, multicultural health issues or a wealth of other worthwhile topics?