Beginning in 1997, Penn State University College of Medicine launched a new curriculum for first and second year medical students which brings together two prior curricular options--a traditional lecture track and a problem-based learning track--into a single integrated curriculum. The integrated curriculum is developed and taught by interdisciplinary teams of faculty representing specialties relevant to each instructional block. There is an increasing emphasis on case-based learning as the student progresses from the first course block to subsequent blocks in the first and second years.

The humanities curriculum which was previously taught as small group seminars is now combined with behavioral science, clinical interviewing, physical diagnosis, issues in medicine, psychiatry, and the primary care preceptorship into a single course entitled "Patients, Physicians and Society." The schedule and offerings for the humanities core courses for first- and second-year students are listed in the Teaching section. Third-year students are required to participate in 6 hours of ethics clinical case conference discussions as part of their third-year medicine clerkship. During their fourth year, all medical students must choose a humanities selective course seminar or complete an independent study under the supervision of humanities faculty. The department is also responsible for organizing and teaching IBIOS 581: Ethics in the Life Sciences, a required course dealing with scientific integrity, for all graduate students enrolled in the Life Sciences Consortium.