Category Archives: Medical School

The dean who was hired less than three years ago to fix problems at the University of Missouri School of Medicine has resigned as the school faces a federal fraud investigation.

Dr. Robert Churchill will leave the university in October to prevent further distractions surrounding the investigation of two of the school's radiologists, according to MU officials.

The radiologists, Dr. Kenneth Rall and Dr. Michael Richards, were dismissed Friday as part of the shake-up after an internal audit found the doctors illegally billed Medicare for services performed by resident doctors in training.

A law firm conducted the audit for the university after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas City notified the school in November 2011 of its investigation into potential Medicare fraud. Rall stepped down as radiology department chairman in December, but stayed on as a professor.

"We were shocked and disappointed to learn about this, because any kind of fraud is entirely inconsistent with our health system's values, our mission, and our commitment to patient care," said Dr. Harold Williamson Jr., vice chancellor of the University of Missouri Health System, in a statement.

Both radiologists have clean records with the Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, which licenses and regulates doctors.

Department of Justice spokesman Don Ledford said the agency doesn't discuss pending investigations.

In what it calls the early stages of its own investigation, school officials said they have not turned up any evidence that radiology patients were harmed.

Resident physicians are allowed to read patients' X-rays, but cannot bill Medicare for the procedure unless the images are also analyzed by a supervising doctor.

"We believe these two doctors sometimes claimed that they had actually completed this second review without actually looking at the image," Williamson said in the statement.

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MU medical school dean resigns as school is under investigation

Students at the medical school in Safed will work as doctors' assistants and serve patients in northern hospitals as part of a new program launched by the school, Haaretz has learned.

Safed medical school, the country's fifth medical school, which opened in November as a branch of Bar-Ilan University, will place students in hospitals as doctors' assistants beginning next year. Students will work from 4 P.M. to 11 P.M. in Poriya Hospital in Tiberias, Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed and Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya. They will admit patients into the wards, but treatment will be administered by doctors.

Health Ministry director general Ronni Gamzu has notified hospital directors in the north that the ministry will support the project with a sum of NIS 1 million, about half the estimated cost. Gamzu wrote that this sum is significantly higher than what has been given to similar programs enabling students to take part in hospital activity in the central region. "There is no such [funding] in Sheba [Medical Center] and Ichilov [Hospital] together," Gamzu wrote.

However, the ministry is still looking for ways to finance the program, and ministry officials said "the issue is still under debate."

According to Ran Tur-Kaspa, dean of faculty in Safed, "The students will be called doctors' assistants, admit the interns to the wards and later present the cases to the doctor on evening duty, who will decide what treatment to give the patients."

Only students who complete their clinical training in internal wards will be employed as doctors' assistants.

The faculty had considered canceling a program intended for Israeli medical students abroad, who are set to begin their clinical training in northern hospitals in about a year, as these hospitals are already training students with bachelor's degrees, Tur-Kaspa said. "But following discussions we decided to continue the program that helps Israeli medical students abroad to return to Israel for their final study years," he said.

Some 50 out of 300 Israeli medical students abroad who have applied to the Safed medical school have been admitted for next year's studies. These students are planning to return to Israel for their last three years of study.

The registration process for the four-year program for students who hold a bachelor's degree is still underway.

Within four years, 200 doctors are expected to graduate from the Safed medical school. By 2015, 150 doctors are expected to graduate each year.

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Safed medical school to place students in northern hospitals as doctors' assistants

CHICAGO A 21-year-old Chicago man who began college at age 9 and medical school three years later is about to become the youngest student ever awarded an M.D. by the University of Chicago.

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Sometimes, a funny thing happens when Dr. Roberta Pagon looks directly into the sun. She sneezes. Not just once though, but usually three times.

Sho Yano, who was reading at age 2, writing at 3 and composing music at 5, will graduate this week from the Pritzker School of Medicine, where he also received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology.

Yano earned his undergraduate degree from Loyola University at age 12, finishing in three years and graduating summa cum laude, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. The average age of students entering medical school in the U.S. is 23, and there were schools that refused Yano admittance because of his age. School officials worried that the rigors of medical school would hinder Yano's ability to have a normal adolescence.

"I never understood that," Yano said. "Why would being allowed to challenge yourself be considered more damaging than being totally bored?"

The University of Chicago admitted Yano in 2003.

"I remember interviewing him ... this nice, polite, 11-year-old boy, dressed in a little suit," said Dr. Joel Scwab, a professor of pediatrics who was on the admissions committee. "He was never going to be among typical 11-year-olds, where his mother would drive him to Little League. He was going to be a doctor."

The school made some accommodations because of Yano's age. Unlike most students, who begin their Ph.D. training after their second year of medical school, Yano began his after his first year. That way, he was about 18 when he began his second year of studies toward his M.D., which includes interacting with and examining patients.

Yano, who is an accomplished pianist and has a black belt in tae kwon do, told the paper he hopes his graduation will silence those who questioned his developmental aptitude when he entered medical school.

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21-year-old youngest MD from Univ. of Chicago

A former child genius and Los Angeles resident who entered medical school at the age of 12 is graduating this week as the youngest student to receive a medical degree from the University of Chicago.

Born in Portland, Ore., Sho Yano, 21, has an IQ above 200 and spent most of his early years in California attending the Mirman School for Gifted Children in Los Angeles for a few years and getting home-schooled by his mother.

Yano, who has already completed his Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology, was composing music by age 4, and scored 1,500 out of 1,600 possible points on the SAT by age 8. At 9, he attended Chicagos Loyola University, where he graduated in three years, summa cum laude, but still played with his pet rabbit and delighted in reading childrens books, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Yano was admitted to the University of Chicagos Pritzker School of Medicine after he met with double the usual number of staff, the Tribune said. Several other medical schools had rejected his application, citing lack of maturity.

Although he was the subject of gossip and teasing in college, classmates at Pritzker have accepted him as part of their class. Peers and faculty told the Tribune that Yano is a "sweet" and "humble student who loves Bach and quoting Greek literature.

"Despite his age, Sho's the oldest soul in our class," one classmate told the Tribune.

He has a black belt in tae kwon do and is a noted pianist. But in the end, he said in 2003, he chose medicine because he wants to help people. He will spend his next five years doing a residency in pediatric neurology.

"I'd love to make a great contribution, he told the Tribune. We'll just have to see where life takes me, but really, I haven't done anything yet."

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Former child genius graduates from medical school at age 21

June 3, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- He was an accomplished pianist at age 9. Now at 21, Sho Yano is the youngest medical school graduate in the history of the University of Chicago.

Sho earned his degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine and is about to enter a residency in pediatric neurology.

"It feels like a nice little accomplishment," Sho said. "I want to go on and do something bigger. I don't want to act like there is some particular reason I should make a great discovery versus any of my classmates so far."

Sho is a genius whose I.Q. is beyond what an I.Q. test can measure. He was reading at 2, composing music at 5 and as a very focused 9-year-old, entered Loyola University.

"I came to college to study, not to hang out or date," he said in 2000 when he entered Loyola.

Studying is exactly what he did. Sho said academics were easy; dealing with discrimination was the real learning experience.

"I ran into things like people shouting 'go back to elementary school' on campus," Sho said.

Being socially accepted at such a young age was easier while getting his PhD and medical degree at the University of Chicago.

Sho has always been a role model for his younger sister Sayuri. She is 15 years old, an accomplished violinist and attends John Hopkins University.

The Yano siblings say the pressure to do great things comes from within.

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Humble genius earns medical degree at 21

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 08:16 EST, 4 June 2012 | UPDATED: 10:34 EST, 4 June 2012

A 21-year-old Chicago man who began college at age nine and medical school three years later is about to become the youngest student ever awarded an M.D. by the University of Chicago.

Sho Yano, who was reading at age two, writing at three and composing music at five, will graduate this week from the Pritzker School of Medicine, where he also received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology.

Yano earned his undergraduate degree from Loyola University at age 12, finishing in three years and graduating summa cum laude, the Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday.

Then and now: Sho Yano in 2000 (left) when studying at Loyola University and today (right)

The average age of students entering medical school in the U.S. is 23, and there were schools that refused Yano admittance because of his age.

School officials worried that the rigors of medical school would hinder Yano's ability to have a normal adolescence.

'I never understood that,' Yano said. 'Why would being allowed to challenge yourself be considered more damaging that being totally bored?'

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He's the real-life Doogie Howser! Meet the 21-year-old who started college at nine and is set to graduate from medical ...