[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're back, folks, talking about tomorrow's physicians.

We're joined by Dr. Jeffrey Boscamp, Dean and President of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, and Melika Behrooz, who's a third-year medical student at the school.

Jeff, good to see you, my friend.

Melika, good to meet you for the first time.

- Great to see you, Steve, always.

- Hey Jeff, let's do this.

You and I have had many offline conversations to disclose.

I've done significant amount of leadership coaching for physicians within HMH.

Question, where are we today moving into 2025, as this will be seen, in medical education just compared to 2000?

- Wow, apples, just apples and advances way, way beyond the oranges.

So, you know, it's pretty amazing, Steve.

You know, since that time, there been you know, we've had a significant doctor shortage in the country, so the number of new schools has really blossomed and come up.

But I think the biggest change, honestly, is in how we teach and how our students learn.

So, you know, there were very orthodox ways of teaching in medical school, two years of in the classroom, no patient contact, no community involvement, just sitting there learning pharmacology and anatomy, you know, basic science things, not really being taught by clinicians who delivered healthcare and often having difficulty in seeing the relevance of what you're being taught.

Then all of a sudden in your third year, you got thrown into a hospital with an operating room and wards and were expected to just absorb that.

Things are completely different, and Melika will tell you that from her first day it was different.

And she can tell you the way that we teach and she learns.

- Let's talk about that.

This again is part of our ongoing series we're kicking off called "Tomorrow's Physicians," it's really the importance of medical education.

Melika, let ask you first, why medicine, and did you make that decision during COVID?

- Hi.

(laughs) I did not make it during COVID, but I was more motivated than ever to continue applying to medical school.

That's when I did my medical school applications.

But I don't know if your viewers might not be aware, it's a multiple-year process to even get up to the point of applying to medical school.

So for me, it started back in like high school.

I was volunteering at my local hospital in Jersey City.

I went to college as a pre-medical student, and I really wanted to be in a field where I could give back and serve my local community that I grew up in but in a way that kind of melded like art and science.

I think medicine is that kind of field where you have the scientific knowledge, but you also have to bring a level of humanism to it, and think there's an art to that.

So I really wanted to be in that field.

- Dr. Boscamp, let me come back and ask you this, listening to Melika.

And I know there are a whole range of reasons why people go into medicine, but post-COVID, do you think it is harder to recruit young talented people into this profession, and if so, why?

Or is it going the other way?

- So what a great question because I think a lot of people might think that.

They saw healthcare workers that were dying, that were giving up their life for their patients.

And some people run to the fire, Steve, and some people run away.

And I think what we've seen is just as you described it, the opposite.

Our application numbers are way up, and I think our students that are coming to our school are really motivated to get involved and to give.

So we look for that level of empathy in their past.

It's not just their board scores.

It's not just their admission test or their GPAs.

We're really looking for people like Melika who have come to us, have already been involved in the community, and wanna come to medicine for the right reasons.

And we are getting really good applicants.

- Melika, in listening to the dean, I wanna follow up on this because I know you're aware of it.

In my physician leadership coaching, I've learned about the quote-unquote "human dimension track."

There's a human dimension track within the medical school.

What is that track, and how will it prepare you to be a more impactful physician in the community, please?

- I think it's a great question, as the human dimension track is what really attracted me to the school of medicine.

I was reading about it online, and it really fit the idea and the vision of a doctor I always had when I was younger, which was someone who was there to treat you for clinical symptoms and illnesses that you had but was also like acutely aware of the challenges that you went through in your social life, in your work life, in the environment- - Melika, hold on one second.

People don't know what the human dimension track is.

I mean, I don't wanna...

Explain to folks, you actually are in the community.

Talk about that.

- Yes, so the school puts us in the community from our very first year.

They pair us with individuals in the community that surround the medical school as part of our Voices program.

So not only do we work one-on-one with individuals that live in the surrounding area and get to know them on a more intimate level of like what are the challenges that they face in being healthier versions of themselves, but we also, at the end of that first year, participate in a community health project with local organizations, health departments, schools.

And throughout the time that we're doing these two activities, every couple of weeks we come into the classroom, and we learn about all of the drivers of health and social determinants of health, so to speak, in like lecture format.

So it's a combination of multiple different settings.

- So, Jeff, let me ask you this, and P.S., we'll be talking to in this series, "Tomorrow's Physicians," the importance of medical education.

We'll be talking to medical school administrators, medical students, young physicians, older physicians, talking about this challenge of tomorrow's physicians with the physician shortage.

A lot of people are asking this, Jeff, and you've dealt with it as well.

Melika deals with it in real time, the cost of medical education.

Please, Dean.

- Huge.

I mean, you know, a lot of students come to us with tremendous undergraduate debt, so it's not even like they're coming in and accruing new debt.

They already have a lot of debt.

Medical school's really, really expensive, and, you know, to do the things that we wanna do cost a fair amount of money in simulation and hiring actors to come in and play patients and so many other things.

But we're acutely aware of how difficult this is.

So one of my jobs as dean and probably very high, if not job one, is to find ways that we can relieve that debt.

And so I'm always looking for people that wanna sponsor scholarships.

We've had great help from the state of New Jersey in helping with that, but one of the new programs that I'm really excited about is the incredible need for primary care everywhere.

People say that to me, "I can't find a primary care doc.

You must have somebody who can get me in."

So one of Hackensack Meridian's plans and it's an incredible joint venture with Hackensack Meridian Health and the medical school is to grow our own primary care docs.

So we have a brand-new program we just launched which I'm so excited about, and it's called our Primary Care Scholars.

If you come into our school and say, "Hey, I wanna be a primary care doc.

I wanna do family medicine.

I wanna do pediatrics or general internal medicine," we'll say to you, "All right, commit to that."

You can come to our school.

We have a three-year program instead of four.

It's for everybody.

Do the three years.

Go to one of our residencies in one of our hospitals or one of those specialties.

We'll guarantee we hire you at the end.

You work for us at Hackensack Meridian for three years, no debt.

- No debt?

- Medical school is free.

And by the way, people have to live while they're in medical school.

We'll pay you $2,500 a month for your expenses while you're in school.

You come out zero debt.

Just work for us for three years.

Become a great primary care doc, and we will allow you to get out.

And we are, with Bob Garrett's leadership, our CEO.

we're expanding that program again next year, and we've had great student interest already.

I'm very excited about that.

- Two things, one, make sure you check out the website at the medical school.

Second, full disclosure, Hackensack Meridian Health is in fact an underwriter of the healthcare program at the CEC, the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Dean, thank you.

Melika, thank you, and Melika especially to you.

Jeff, my good friend, you know already how I feel.

But Melika, wishing you all the best in your future because we're confident that you're gonna make a difference in the community as a physician of tomorrow.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

- Thank you.

- Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you, Melika.

- Thanks so much, Steve.

Always a pleasure to chat with you.

And thank you, Melika, for being here.

- Of course, it's an honor.

- Yeah that’s coming from the dean, so that's good.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

Kean University.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Newark Board of Education.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Wells Fargo.

The Fidelco Group.

And by The Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

- Hi, I'm Abbie.

You might see me as an ordinary person, but I've been living with a brain injury since 2018.

Opportunity Project gave me hope and I've gained confidence through job skill training and helping my family.

Despite my challenges with memory, I see a possibility to keep improving.

- [Narrator] If you have a brain injury, you don't have to face your road to recovery alone.

Learn more about Opportunity Project and its partnership with Children's Specialized Hospital.