MINI-MEDICAL SCHOOL CLASS OF '99

The word is out: Mini-Medical School is one great program. Now in its second year, the school opened in March to another sold-out audience. More than 250 people applied for the 150 available slots, creating an even longer waiting list than last year's. ÒStudentsÓ learn about clinical medicine from faculty members of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). Some of the information is actually part of the medical school curriculum, but is presented in layman's terms.

The class of '99 came from all over the tri-state area. Besides the residents from 11 of New Jersey's 21 counties, people traveled to the RWJMS campus in New Brunswick from as far away as Brooklyn, Flushing and Philadelphia. The youngest to enroll were three 12-year-olds and the oldest was an 80-year-old couple who came with their daughter, a retired clinical microbiologist. Eight married couples, three sets of children-with-a-parent and four sets of siblings were also on the roster. Participants' occupations ran the gamut as well: There was a superior court judge, an accountant, a graphic designer, a corporate vice president and a hospital volunteer.

Denise Rodgers, MD, assistant dean for community health, welcomed the group the first evening. She told participants the information being presented -- which had been carefully chosen -- affects their lives, is in the news and is cutting edge research. Ten RWJMS physicians talked on topics such as the secrets of successful aging, managing your HMO, what physicians learn from autopsies, and skin cancer -- the undeclared epidemic.