Elective Program

 Meg Keeley, M.D.(Clinical Co-Director) mmg4z@virginia.edu

  Elis Clark (Electives Coordinator) ecc3e@Virginia.edu

The Electives Program offers opportunities for UVA medical students to tailor their educational experience to their own interests and career aspirations. The goals of the elective period are:

  1. To allow the student an opportunity to fashion an intellectually stimulating educational program and to broaden his/her exposure in clinical medicine, not only in the students field of interest, but also in areas of clinical medicine which are vital to forming a well-rounded physician.

  2. To provide the student with the means to make a sound judgment when choosing a career from among the multiple fields of medicine.

  3. To provide the opportunity for students to spend time in a given field which may be purely of academic interest and to which the student will have little further exposure once he/she graduates from medical school.

The Elective Program is an official course managed with two course directors, an elective coordinator. The Clinical Medicine Committee (CMC) acts as an advisory group for the electives course directors. The CMC meets on a regular basis with a portion of each meeting devoted to elective issues. The co-directors are members of the CMC along with one student from the fourth year representing the students regarding elective issues.

The directors oversee the Elective Program by working closely with the elective coordinator and the elective supervisors to ensure a quality experience in each elective and the well-ordered operation of the course.

Objectives and a formal evaluation process are maintained for each elective including regular elective reviews with student and faculty assessment. The directors instruct and counsel faculty serving as student advisors. The advisors provide guidance in selecting appropriate electives and in devising a coherent educational experience for the student's career goals.

For additional information regarding the Elective Program see the Student Affairs Elective Program website.