Monday, May 17, 2010

Mini-Med "Graduation"

Monday, May 17, 2010
Last Tuesday night was graduation from Mini-Med. I must explain. Mini-Med is an annual program offered to the community by the University of Michigan’s Medical School in Ann Arbor. It consists of six weekly classes taught by med school profs, often renowned specialists in their fields, who volunteer their time. And it’s incredible!

A friend and I enrolled in Mini-Med six or seven years ago. My son, who shares my fascination with medical subjects, started attending four years ago. And my husband joined us in 2008. (I think he goes mostly because he likes stopping at P.F. Chang’s in Northville for a late dinner on our way home!)

Each year’s syllabus focuses on a new topic. The subject for my first year was cancer. Every week, we had two doctors who lectured on various cancers, the latest research and their experiences. After each lecture, the doctors took questions from the audience, and people could go up and speak with them individually at the end of the evening. To say that it was interesting is a huge understatement. Subjects since then have included, the brain, the biology of aging, the metabolic syndrome, the G.I. tract and this year’s metabolism, endocrinology and diabetes. It’s an amazing program that’s well worth the $75 fee. We learned a lot and now have the names of some great doctors, should we ever need them.

But back to graduation. On Tuesday, we celebrated with cupcakes and a gift, which this year was a cool key chain with “U of M Mini-Med 2010” engraved on it. If you think you might want to check it out next spring (sign up early, because the class fills up fast), here’s the Mini-Med website:

http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/minimed/

And all these years I assumed that Mini-Med was exclusive to the University of Michigan. But I was surprised to see that U of M’s site has a link to the National Institutes of Health’s list of American universities with Mini-Med programs. Here’s that link:

http://science.education.nih.gov/home2.nsf/DC+Area+Programs/+Mini-Med+School/33AE0968ECE91CDD85256FFC006B245D

If you’re a medical information junkie, this class is for you!
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