With books and stethoscopes in hand, students of all ages are preparing to start medical school. Sort of. Up to five hundred participants are expected to attend mini-med school at the University of Toronto, a six-week lecture series aimed at educating the public about health issues. Lectures will consist of general health topics like dementia, heart disease and cancer.
Director Dr. Michael Evans, assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine, stressed the importance of programs like mini-med school for health self-management. The lectures will aim to educate patients and the public who are already seeking advice and knowledge from alternative medicine and the Internet in addition to the care provided by physicians. Evans feels it is important for the university to help provide this service to the community. He hopes the course will attract a variety of people from various backgrounds and age groups.
The sessions are meant to entertain as well as educate. The lecture discussing cancer will be followed by a play, No Big Deal, which will discuss the real-life struggles in managing prostate cancer.
Mini-med schools are not a new concept. While this program will be the first of its kind in Ontario, such programs have been run in medical schools in the United States, and one has already been held at McGill.
The six-week mini-med school begins on October 3 and will run until November 14 on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. Each night will begin with a fifteen-minute discussion by Dr. Evans about recent health headlines and trends, followed by two lectures. Evans hopes to receive feedback from the participants regarding the lectures. Eventually, he hopes to offer more specific sessions and more options for participants.
Photograph by Kara Dillon
