A long history of looking forward: Jefferson propels its education mission

Dean of Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson University provides vision for medical research

Entering our third century of excellence in medical education, research and community engagement, Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Medical College builds on a distinguished legacy with a bright future. For more than 200 years, we have prepared our graduates to be healers, innovators and bridge builders — people who use their knowledge and actions, skills and integrity to help shape the future of medicine and health care.

As proud as we are of that history, we are very much future-focused, working to ensure that our graduates are ready to surf the waves of scientific, technological and societal change they will witness throughout their careers. That means preparing them to be leaders of integrated healthcare delivery and research teams: helping to define what it means to deliver excellent clinical care while striving to improve the general wellbeing of people throughout the communities they serve. It means instilling in our students a passion for new knowledge and a commitment to lifelong learning. And it means enabling them to readily adopt emerging computational and digital tools that can support diagnostic and clinical decision making — and can ease day-to-day administrative burdens of clinical practice. Indeed, our AI Center of Excellence and AI & Deep Learning Laboratory are just two examples of our burgeoning strategy to leverage AI and new technology in advancing education, research and clinical care.

Sidney Kimmel Medical College’s innovative curriculum, JeffMD, a case-based approach to teaching and learning, is all about preparing the physicians of the future. It hones students’ ability to learn actively and think critically as they develop core professional competencies that enable them to make positive, impactful changes for their patients and for the healthcare system. It enables students to gain the fundamental scientific knowledge and human skills necessary to practice medicine in this dynamic century. Guided by Thomas Jefferson University and the medical college’s world-class investigators, students engage directly in the discovery and application of new knowledge, working within and across basic science, clinical, public health and healthcare delivery research. And offerings such as the college’s Medicine+ curriculum and JeffSolves program provide unique opportunities for students to apply design thinking and entrepreneurship skills in translating new knowledge into novel medical products and approaches to healthcare delivery.

That rich academic experience takes place within a multifaceted community teaming with passion and compassion, culture and connection and scholarship and innovation. It’s an environment where medical students thrive.

Here’s what it means to be part of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College community as we build on our pioneering history to deepen and expand our reach and impact in the decades ahead.

Building on an Extraordinary Legacy

Since its founding in 1824 as Jefferson Medical College (now, Sidney Kimmel Medical College), we’ve been at the forefront of medical education. As the first U.S. medical school to open a clinic for the poor and accept free patients, we have continued to be a leader in integrating clinical care into the curriculum. Today, our students engage with the broad spectrum of patients served by Jefferson Health — one of the nation’s largest academic health centers — at 32 hospital campuses and hundreds of ambulatory care sites, and through partnerships with myriad community-based organizations.

Among many clinical, research and academic advances, our faculty’s and alumni’s two-century record of accomplishments range from the first dental surgery using anesthesia, to the design of the modern military ambulance service, to the invention of the heart-lung machine and the world’s first successful open-heart surgery. It includes the discovery of the mosquito vector for yellow fever and of a genetic cause for osteoarthritis, the publication of the first American endocrinology textbook and implementation of an innovative, patient-centered curriculum enabling students to learn actively, think critically and collaborate in multifaceted teams. And we are particularly proud of one of our most recent achievements: the National Cancer Institute’s 2024 designation of our Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center as a Comprehensive Cancer Center that provides advanced clinical research, treatment and ongoing support.

Preparing the Next Generation

The core of Sidney Kimmel Medical College’s legacy of impact is medical education. As one of the nation’s largest private medical schools, we have awarded more than 31,000 medical degrees. We have a long history of looking forward to address both today’s challenges and those coming over the horizon and that is especially true in our approach to training future physicians.

We are providing our students with foundational knowledge in the core biomedical disciplines as well as in data science and the effective use of machine learning. We are preparing them to collaborate across disciplines and professions and to effectively leverage the capacities that AI is bringing to the table. We encourage students to think innovatively and expansively, as problem-solvers, global citizens and lifelong learners, and we prepare them to engage with the world in multifaceted ways.

In other words, our graduates possess the vision, tools and confidence to become leaders from the outset of their careers — whether in the clinic, the community, research lab or classroom.

Indeed, the medical college experience is all about students “becoming” — as people, members of their communities and emerging physicians. From their first days on campus, we empower and challenge students. We guide their professional and personal growth, and help them deepen their capacities to learn, think and act as members of multifaceted professional teams operating in socially and technically complex environments.

The recent merger of Lehigh Valley Health Network with Jefferson Health has deepened and expanded the array of opportunities we provide students to engage with patients in a variety of settings. Sidney Kimmel Medical College students are able to gain experience in urban, suburban and rural communities, to work with patients in primary care offices, in tertiary and quaternary care, and in rehabilitation and ancillary care centers and to engage with patients from many cultures and backgrounds.

Pioneering from Bench to Bedside, from Patient to Population

Our medical college is also home to world-class researchers making basic science discoveries, translating new knowledge into potential diagnostics and therapeutics, then applying and testing them through rigorous clinical trials. Collaborating with investigators throughout the broader Jefferson research enterprise, Sidney Kimmel Medical College researchers are driving our research portfolio forward in exciting ways. Not only have we continuously increased our level of external and internal funding for work across the full research spectrum throughout the past decade, we are now capitalizing on the rich clinical data sets available through Jefferson Health to expand our clinical and translational studies.

One current proof-point for our growing research capacities: Over the past year (2023-24), the medical college’s level of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grew by 9.3% — placing us far above our peers throughout Pennsylvania. That sizable increase reflects a decade-long trend, with our NIH funding growing 56% between 2014 and 2024. In parallel, peer-reviewed publications by Sidney Kimmel Medical College faculty and staff scientists more than quadrupled in that period.

And we’re not done. The goal of the medical college is to grow research by 15% a year during the next decade, and to reach an NIH funding base of about $200 million. While we will continue to build on our core strengths in basic science research, we will focus especially on clinical, applied and population health research portfolios. The future of academic medicine rests in our collective ability to more thoroughly and clearly view clinical care through the lens of population health.

Mission, Commitment and Clarity

At Thomas Jefferson University and our Sidney Kimmel Medical College we are diving into our third century with a sense of mission and commitment, and with clarity on the challenges before us. We are continuously evaluating our curriculum and pedagogies and incorporating cutting-edge technologies and evidence-based advancements in the science of learning. We are committed to helping improve the delivery of healthcare in our nation’s constantly evolved health system and to helping our graduates grapple successfully with the personal and professional demands placed on physicians. We are intensely focused on creating and applying new knowledge and new approaches that will enable tomorrow’s physicians to deliver the highest-quality, most compassionate and efficient care. And we are pioneering in the seamless integration of future-focused medical education and Jefferson’s growing clinical mission.

In all that we do, the faculty and students of Sidney Kimmel Medical College strive to be catalysts for excellence and innovation, for inquiry and continuous learning, and for meaningful connection with the people we serve. In short, we are committed to redefining possible.