Foundations Curriculum Overview

The Foundations Phase is designed to equip medical students with essential knowledge in the basic sciences, clinical reasoning, and social sciences, ensuring they are prepared for success in the subsequent clinical phase of their education. The curriculum is eighteen months (three terms) in length and offered at 6 campuses in the WWAMI region. The curriculum is educationally equivalent at all the WWAMI sites, and common teaching materials, syllabi, and examinations are given to ensure that all students are achieving the same level of competence.

The Foundations Phase includes:

  • A 1-2-week Orientation at each Foundation site.
  • Nine integrated, interdisciplinary block courses.
  • Thread topics that are integrated into each block.
  • Four themes: Health equity and social determinants of health, ethics, health systems science, and planetary health, that are taught throughout the Foundations Phase.
  • Three Integration weeks which reinforce and apply concepts from disparate basic science disciplines.
  • Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM), which develops clinical skills in both a classroom and patient care setting through the Primary Care Practicum.
  • A Summer Independent Investigative Inquiry (III) course and III Final Project.
  • Consolidation and Transition to Clerkships courses, which provide study time for USMLE Step 1 licensing exam and prepares students to enter the clinical curriculum.

Foundations Phase Curriculum

The following is a comprehensive list of all courses and credits that students entering in 2024 or after register for in the Foundations Phase.

Summer Year 1
2 courses, 15 credits		Autumn Year 1
3 courses, 23.5 credits		Winter Year 1
4 courses, 21 credits		Spring Year 1
3 courses, 22.5 credits
MEDSCI 500:
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM),
2 credits

MEDSCI 510:
Fundamentals of Medical Science
and Research (FMR), 13 credits		MEDSCI 502:
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM), 3 credits

MEDSCI 530:
Infections and Immunity (I&I), 10 credits

MEDSCI 516:
Integration I, 0.5 credits

MEDSCI 520:
Cancer, Hormones, and Blood (CHB), 10 credits		MEDSCI 504:
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM),
4 credits

MEDSCI 540:
Muscles, Joints, Bones and Skin (MJBS),
8 credits

MEDSCI 550:
Cardiovascular System (CVS), 8 credits

MEDSCI 523:
Medicine, Health and Society I (MHS I),
1 credit		MEDSCI 506:
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM),
4 credits

MEDSCI 553:
Respiration and Regulation (R&R), 10 credits

MEDSCI 517:
Integration II, 0.5 credits

MEDSCI 556:
Head, Neck and Gut (HNG), 8 credits
Summer Year 2
2 courses, 9 credits		Autumn Year 2
4 courses, 24.5 credits		Winter Year 2
2 courses, 14 credits		Spring Year 2
Variable (clerkships)
MEDSCI 501:
Independent Investigative Inquiry (III), 6 credits

MEDSCI 524:
Medicine, Health and Society II (MHS II), 3 credits		MEDSCI 503:
Independent Investigative Inquiry
Final Project (III Final Project), 1 credit

MEDSCI 508:
Foundations of Clinical Medicine
(FCM), 4 credits

MEDSCI 560:
Mind, Brain and Behavior (MBB), 11 credits

MEDSCI 518:
Integration III, 0.5 credits

MEDSCI 570:
Reproduction and Development
(R&D), 8 credits		MEDSCI 582: Consolidation, 12 credits

MEDSCI 583:
Transition to Clerkships (TTC), 2 credits

If you have questions about this page or would like to make changes please contact foundmed@uw.edu