'Pioneers in Physiology': A Project by First-Year Medical Graduates

The medical curriculum is vast, and students are expected to learn many subjects at the same time. Medical students are often stressed and find it difficult to cope with the curriculum. In addition, some first-year students find theory and practical classes to be monotonous. One of the difficulties faced by faculty members is, therefore, to maintain student interest in preclinical subjects, including physiology. In recent times, there has been a greater emphasis in medical curricula on aspects such as peer teaching, including working with interdisciplinary teams, on using evidence-based practice, on the integration of clinical medicine at the start of their course, and on the use of biomedical informatics. In their personal experience, the authors have noticed that student motivation to learn and reciprocate is increased to a greater extent when they have interactive sessions or bedside clinical demonstrations on patients or visits to laboratories that deal with new techniques. With this background, the authors decided to engage students in a program that dealt with eminent physiologists and their contribution to physiology. At the end of the program, they hoped to achieve the following objectives: (1) to expose students to experimental physiology; (2) to help students gain knowledge about various physiologists; and (3) to expose students to biomedical informatics. (Contains 1 table.)