MD-PhD House Initiative

Eight years; it’s an amount of time that defines any MD-PhD student. We have been reminded countless times that eight years is a long time. Are we suuure this is what we want to do? We will be yanked between medical school and graduate school more than once as our classmates and close friends glide seamlessly through medical school into residency, or graduate school into postdocs, or their first “big-kid” jobs. We are acutely aware of the thirty-something-year-olds we will be during residency. We will learn medicine, we will forget medicine, we will become experts in our field just in time to rejoin a new class of medical students who still have every buzzword and Anki card memorized. Along with our names during most introductions, we will string along our “year” as if it is part of our identity. The first years are eager and timid, and the rare sighting of an eighth year is met with awe and a small tinge of terror as we peer into our future. How many grey hairs have they grown, how jaded have they become, are they happy? From passing Homeostasis, to taking Step 1, qualifying, defending our theses, and matching into our dream residency, the hurdles seem endless. You can’t help but wonder who you will be on the other side.

Many of us will spend these eight formidable years away from friends and family with sparse opportunities to visit home. Some will struggle to feel like they belong in the Ivy League bubble of Yale. Life will continue, sometimes in the background and sometimes in the forefront. We will experience losses, make sacrifices, and learn to set boundaries. Some may fall in love, get married, adopt a dog, or start a family. Some will buy a house and a leather couch; others will wonder if they are “adult” enough in their shared apartment with coin-operated laundry.

Undoubtedly, the many years of an MD-PhD are challenging, exciting, and life-changing years of our lives. As much grief as we might occasionally get from our MD classmates, it’s no coincidence that MD-PhD students tend to gravitate to each other for friendship and support. Through all the hurdles and skepticism, it is comforting to be around others with a shared experience, and who we know will be there through every whip-lashing year. Behind each success story that arises from the Yale MD-PhD program is a community of support and friendship. It became clear through feedback at the 2019 annual retreat that students feel strongly about expanding the Yale MD-PhD community. While students within individual years tend to develop these strong connections, the annual retreat is currently the only event that brings everyone from the program together, and even at this once-a-year event, there are few incentives to deviate from one’s already established friend group. A huge opportunity for community building between students from different years in the program remains untapped. It is the mission of the program administration and the Student Council to help this community flourish. In a direct effort to ensure that everyone in our community feels equally valued and supported, the MD-PhD House System was born.

The Yale MD-PhD House System consists of 6 houses each with roughly 24 randomly assigned students across all years in the program. All students will remain with their house for the duration of their time in the program, with incoming first years being randomly assigned a house at matriculation each year. Each house is led by 3-4 upper year students (“Heads of House”) who were specifically selected for their leadership and engagement in the MD-PhD program. Each house will meet quarterly for house dinners at a student’s house or a local restaurant. Throughout the year the houses will participate in a variety of different events to earn house points, accumulating throughout the year with one final chance to win points at an Olympics-style competition at the annual MD-PhD retreat. The house with the most points will win the House Cup (see picture below), having their team name engraved in the trophy and displayed in the MD-PhD office.

The House System has three aims. First, to promote diversity and inclusion; every student in the MD-PhD program is randomly assigned to a house, ensuring that not only every student is involved, but that students from different years and background, and people that might not otherwise become friends, will be put in a tight-knit environment conducive to community building. Because students will remain in the same House throughout their time in the program, this will provide continuity for developing long-lasting and meaningful connections. We hope that by bringing together students from diverse backgrounds and stages in training, this system will enable students to express their values, share their experiences, and provide informal mentoring to others. We will further promote diversity through organizing or supporting student-led events that provide avenues for individual expression (participation encouraged through house points, of course!). The second aim of the House System is to promote well-being and support. As with the events centered around diversity, we will organize and support wellness activities through the structure of the House System. This will include friendly competitions between the houses for house points, such as logging hours outside or at the gym, having a baking competition, or volunteering in the community. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the House System will provide a framework for innovation for the program for years to come. When designing the House System, the Student Council deliberately kept many decisions and possible avenues open for discussion to ensure that the System will represent the wants, needs, and values of the MD-PhD student body as a whole. We envision that the community building and friendly competition that are at the foundation of the House System will be a launching pad for students to make it their own.

The House System had its official launch party on the evening of January 29th, 2020. Close to 70 students attended, we ate an obscene amount of Thai food, and each student received a puzzle piece that helped them identify which house they had been assigned. Each student received a hand-made tie-dye shirt in their house color and the Heads of House organized (non-cringe-worthy) ice breakers for everyone to begin to get to know each other better. Several teams have already re-branded (the Green house is now The Notorious GFPs, and the Red house is now The Peripheral Smears), and multiple houses have had their first quarterly house dinner (prior to the current self-quarantining situation, of course). In the spirit of friendly competition one House is currently holding the House Cup ransom, to be won back at an escape room duel.

We have been heartened by the positive response and engagement in the House System thus far, an encouraging sign that this initiative is filling a much desired gap in our MD-PhD program. We are eager to see how this evolves and continues to expand over time. The growth of our MD-PhD community will not only enrich our years in the program but will directly translate into the success of our student body during and after our time at Yale.

The student council is eager to hear from students about ideas or thoughts they may have about the House System. Now and moving forward, please reach out to your student council representative or Heads of House with any questions, concerns, thoughts, or ideas. We want everyone to make this program their own and contribute to its expansion.