Doctor of Medicine (MD); 6-year program

Upon successful completion of the MD program, graduates are expected to achieve competencies in three domains: Knowledge, Skills, and Competence.

1. Knowledge (K)

Graduates will:

• Understand the normal structure and function of the body and its systems (K1).

• Recognize causes of diseases (genetic, infectious, toxic, autoimmune, traumatic, etc.) and how they disrupt normal function (K2).

• Identify pathology and pathophysiology of organ systems in various diseases (K3).

• Acknowledge non-biological factors affecting health (economic, social, cultural, psychological) (K4).

• Recognize clinical, laboratory, and radiological manifestations of common diseases (K5).

• Appreciate the role of the scientific method in proving disease causation and therapy effectiveness (K6).

• Understand principles of prevention and epidemiology for common diseases (K7).

• Know UAE’s laws, regulations, ethics, and codes of conduct relevant to medical practice (K8).

• Understand the UAE healthcare framework, including MOH, health authorities, and the private sector (K9).

2. Skills (S)

Graduates will be able to:

• Obtain accurate holistic medical histories (S1).

• Apply clinical problem-solving to reach diagnoses (S2).

• Perform full and focused clinical examinations (S3).

• Carry out basic technical procedures (S4).

• Develop management strategies for common acute and chronic conditions across all ages (S5).

• Formulate treatment plans balancing risks and benefits (S6).

• Recognize and manage life-threatening emergencies (cardiac, pulmonary, neurological) using BLS & ALS (S7).

• Interpret laboratory tests and integrate results clinically (S8).

• Document and share patient information effectively (S9).

• Relate population health factors (demography, socioeconomic, cultural) to patient care (S10).

• Recognize personal and professional limits and seek help when needed (S11).

3. Competence (C)

• Autonomy & Responsibility (CA):

  • Continuously learn and integrate new knowledge.

  • Make independent, professional clinical decisions.

  • Follow best practice standards responsibly.

• Role in Context (CR):

  • Function as mentor and teacher, provide feedback, and contribute to colleague development.

  • Collaborate within interdisciplinary healthcare teams.

  • Build teamwork capacity and demonstrate leadership.

  • Act as responsible resource managers, optimizing use of healthcare resources.

High school diploma with high grades, English proficiency IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 79, Mathematics and Sciences (Chemistry, Biology, Physics) with high grades, medical admission test, personal interview, comprehensive medical examination

Our program is 6-year long and runs in three serial phases as follows:

Phase I – Two years of PreMed (Years 1 and 2): concentrates essentially on the structure and function of the body organ-systems. In addition to the lectures and labs being copiously illustrated with clinical examples, there are TBL (Team-Based Learning) sessions at the end of each week where cases for problem solving are used to consolidate learning. Courses offered in this 4-semester-long phase include: university general education requirements, chemistry, physics, human biology, anatomy and physiology, molecular medicine, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, microbiology, general pathology, and general pharmacology. The overarching intention of the new Premed is to facilitate transferability of students between colleges. This will however require rationalization of content between the medical colleges.
Phase II – Two years of Pre-clerkships (Years 3 and 4) – consisting mainly of weekly disease-anchored Problem-Based Learning (PBL) type blocks covering all the systems. The robust clinical skills program runs in parallel with all the blocks. Other longitudinal (parallel) courses are offered, including courses like biostatistics and epidemiology, primary and rural health and family medicine, health informatics, economics and management, behavioral sciences, addiction and substance use, and research. The phase culminates in an integrated multisystem block at the end of year 4 to help the students prepare for the IFOM Basic Science Exam as mandated by the CAA.
Phase III – Two years of Clerkships (Years 5 and 6) – consisting of 20-week semesters over the two years and an additional six weeks of clinical electives during the summer of between year 5 and year 6. Students are expected to sit for the IFOM Clinical Science Exam by the end of year 6 as mandated by the CAA.
Our program is designed as an integrated, system-based, spiral curriculum, which is divided into three phases. There is both horizontal and vertical integration such that as the student progresses through the phases, they revisit the same organ systems at higher levels of complexity and clinical content until graduation.

A unique feature of the AUCoM curriculum is the application of “Parallel Courses”. These are semester long courses running alongside (parallel to) the integrated blocks. In many instances, the parallel courses align their content to the running blocks. Parallel courses address one of the main criticisms in integrated PBL-type curricula; the niggling feeling that the students are not learning core concepts in sufficient depth. A secondary advantage of the parallel courses is that the program has greater flexibility in formally introducing new or topical subjects into the curriculum, e.g. simple one or two credit hour courses in Health Informatics, Economics, and Management, and Addiction and Substance Use, etc. has potential to greatly enrich the curriculum. Such flexibility is lacking or limited in the common integrated curricula on offer at most medical schools in the region. Experience at a young medical school (<10 years), applying a similar mix of integrated and parallel courses has produced graduates who are exceptionally competitive in external benchmarking and licentiate assessments.