Editing Program in Liberal Medical Education

{{Short description|Medical program in Brown University}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = Program in Liberal Medical Education
 | image                  = Plme-logo.png
 | established            = {{date and age|1984}}
 | type                   = Combined baccalaureate-MD program
 | affiliation            = [[Brown University]]
 | city                   = Providence, RI
 | country                = USA
 | dean                   = 
 | students               = <!-- or |enrollment= --> Approximately 60 per class
}}
The '''Program in Liberal Medical Education''', or '''PLME''', is an eight-year combined baccalaureate-M.D. medical program offered by [[Brown University]]. Members of the program are simultaneously accepted into both the undergraduate [[College of Brown University]] as well as the [[Alpert Medical School|Warren Alpert Medical School]], allowing them to receive a [[Bachelor's degree]] and an [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] as part of a single eight-year continuum. The PLME is the only combined medical program in the [[Ivy League]], as well as one of only approximately 120 in the nation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/bsmd-programs/many-bsmd-programs/|title=How Many BS/MD Programs Are There? - BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners|date=2014-01-14|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-24}}</ref> The program is highly selective, admitting fewer than 90 applicants nationwide and internationally each year, with an acceptance rate of 2.19% for the class of 2026. The PLME is widely considered to be one of the most competitive and prestigious combined medical programs in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-01 |title=Top 23 Combined BS/MD Programs in 2023 |url=https://blog.collegevine.com/best-bs-md-programs/ |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=CollegeVine Blog |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ivycoach.com/2019-ivy-league-admissions-statistics/|title=2019 Ivy League Admissions Statistics {{!}} Ivy Coach|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://prestigeobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/08/brown-university-alpert-medical-school.html|title=Prestige Obsessed: Brown University Alpert Medical School|last=Obsessed|first=Prestige|date=2011-08-13|website=Prestige Obsessed|access-date=2016-07-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/bsmd-programs/three-tiers-bsmd-programs/|title=Three Tiers of BS/MD Programs Based on Level of Competitiveness - BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners|date=2014-06-05|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-09}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Das_östliche_Eingangstor_der_Brown_University.jpg|thumb|The entrance to Brown's campus on [[College Hill, Providence, Rhode Island|College Hill]]]]
[[File:Alpert_Medical_School,_Providence,_Rhode_Island.jpg|thumb|The Alpert Medical School's Richmond Street building]]
The 8-year Program in Liberal Medical Education was inaugurated in 1984. Since 1963, the university had offered a 6-year combined undergraduate/Master of Medical Science program.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia Brunoniana {{!}} Medical education|url=https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=M0250|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www.brown.edu}}</ref> The PLME program was originally the primary route of admission to the Alpert Medical School, until the medical school began accepting pre-medical students through the standard [[American Medical College Application Service|AMCAS]] admission route in 2004.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

According to the university, the goal of the program is to combine the [[Open Curriculum (Brown University)|Open Curriculum]] of the College and the competency-based curriculum concept of the Alpert Medical School to encourage students of medicine to pursue in depth their interests in the [[humanities]], [[Social science|social sciences]], and [[Natural science|natural sciences]] through a [[liberal education]] philosophy as they prepare for their careers as physicians.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/plme/sites/brown.edu.academics.medical.plme/files/uploads/PLME_brochure_2015.pdf|title=Program in Liberal Medical Education|website=www.brown.edu|publisher=Brown University}}</ref> Julianne Ip, M.D., Associate Dean of Medicine for PLME, described the program as a way to "accept the 'best' high school students who would utilize Brown, and the College’s unique Open Curriculum to craft their own educational paths. These individualized educational plans would allow students to pursue their passions be they in science or liberal arts but always with the view of medicine as a humanitarian pursuit, not a “trade” to be learned."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ip|first=Julianne|date=July 2015|title=Overview of Brown's Unique 8-year Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME)|url=https://www.rimed.org/rimedicaljournal/2015/07/2015-07.pdf|journal=Rhode Island Medical Journal|volume=98|issue=7|pages=14–15 |pmid=26125471 }}</ref>

== Admissions ==
Because the PLME draws applicants from around the U.S. and internationally, its applicant pool is significantly larger than those of most other BS/MD programs, which receive primarily in-state applications.<ref>{{Cite book|title=BS/MD Programs- The Complete Guide: Getting into Medical School from High School|last=Johnson|first=Todd A.|publisher=College Admissions Partners|year=2013|isbn=978-0-9832132-4-6|location=Minnetonka, MN|pages=73, 243}}</ref> With large numbers of applicants competing for very few spots, the program consistently reports a low acceptance rate. For the undergraduate class of 2026, 3,827 high school students applied and 84 were admitted, yielding an acceptance rate of 2.19%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brown admits record-low 5% of applicants to class of 2026 |url=https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2022/03/brown-admits-record-low-5-of-applicants-to-class-of-2026 |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=The Brown Daily Herald |language=en-US}}</ref> The average SAT scores of matriculants between 2019 and 2022 were 748 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and 779 in Math.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://plme.med.brown.edu/about |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=Program in Liberal Medical Education {{!}} Medical School {{!}} Brown University |language=en}}</ref>

==Notable alumni==
Graduates from the PLME are alumni of Brown University, but members of the program specifically have become prominent figures in the medicine and health world as well as in other areas.
* [[Barrett Bready]], (B.A. 1999, M.D. 2003) – president and CEO, [[Nanopore sequencing|NabSys]], a DNA-sequencing startup which employs technology developed at Brown
*[[Atul Butte]], (B.A. 1991, M.D. 1995) – Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor, [[University of California, San Francisco]]; biotechnology entrepreneur
* [[Bobby Jindal]], (B.A. 1991) – 55th [[Governor of Louisiana]], and former member of the [[U.S. House of Representatives]]; forfeited his place in the medical school to pursue studies in health policy at Oxford University through the [[Rhodes Scholarship]]
*[[Chirinjeev Kathuria]] (1988, M.D. 1993) – investor and entrepreneur, co-founder of [[Ocean Biomedical]]
*[[Srihari S. Naidu]], (Sc.B. 1993, M.D. 1997) – Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Treatment Center at [[Westchester Medical Center]]; Professor of Medicine, [[New York Medical College]]
*[[Erica Schwartz]] (B.Sc. 1994, M.D. 1998) – former Deputy Surgeon General of the United States<ref>{{Cite web|title=Health Warrior|url=https://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/articles/2020-04-09/health-warrior|access-date=2021-06-09|website=www.brownalumnimagazine.com|language=en}}</ref>
<gallery class="center">
File:Bobby Jindal August 2015.jpg|[[Bobby Jindal]] ('91),  55th [[Governor of Louisiana]], and former member of the [[U.S. House of Representatives]]
File:GM7 Key Question 3, Atul Butte, 34m54s.jpg|[[Atul Butte]] ('91, MD '95), Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor, [[University of California, San Francisco|UCSF]]
File:Rear Admiral Erica Schwartz.jpg|[[Erica Schwartz]] ('94, MD '98), Deputy Surgeon General of United States
</gallery>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Brown University]]
[[Category:Medical education in the United States]]
[[Category:1984 establishments in the United States]]