At the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) Assembly in November, the Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine (AYAM) received the Outstanding Graduate and Professional School Award for their sessions celebrating the Yale System of medical education during Reunion 2017 in June. The award is given annually during the AYA’s volunteer leadership conference to the G&P alumni association that exhibits overall excellence in programming. AYAM president, Harold Mancusi-Ungaro, Jr. ’69, MD ’73 shared that the goal of the reunion programming was to honor the Yale System, a teaching methodology that sets the Yale School of Medicine apart from other medical schools, and to remind deans and faculty who were planning curricular changes of the school’s distinctive heritage. Reunion speakers included alumni who are national leaders, a Nobel Prize winner, a medical school dean and several CEOs, each of whom talked about how the Yale System had influenced their lives and careers. As part of a reunion module called The Yale System: I Was There, a documentary filmmaker assisted by current medical students recorded interviews with alumni for availability as YouTube videos. And returning alumni had opportunities to learn about changes in the curriculum and offer questions and comments. All these efforts represented a significant examination of university policies by alumni, and a model for other groups who want to help Yale preserve its legacy.
To read more about the reunion programming, visit our news story here.