Intro/Background
The Duke University School of Medicine Master of Biomedical Sciences Program (MBS), an innovative 10-month professional postbaccalaureate program, will enroll its 10th class July 1, 2024. This milestone marks successful outcomes including graduation rates, enrollment into medical and other health professional schools, and employment. Our program recruits a diverse group of students including first-generation, underrepresented (34% Black/AA, 13% Hispanic/Latino, 14% Asian, 2% American Indian/American Native), English as a second language, rural born, and low socioeconomic status. The program includes rigorous coursework in biomedical sciences and patient-facing clinical exposure as Emergency Medical Technicians-Basic. Program strategies for student success include high touch advising for academic success; access to a learning strategist and tutorial support; a course on learning fundamentals. Students can choose among several selective courses including one on planning for health professional education. They participate in a longitudinal course Essentials for Practice and Professional Development providing a humanistic view of health. Students can access counseling support. The AAMC Competencies for Entering Medical Students are used to design courses and assessments. Learners work in teams deliberately constituted to maximize cognitive diversity. Students participate in a robust teaming curriculum with facilitation of team and personal development to optimize team-based learning. Diverse Interdisciplinary faculty are physician, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, and nursing faculty, and PhDs in the basic sciences.

Relevance
MBS is a postbaccalaureate starting its 10th class July 2024. To date 386 graduates, 2611 of the 277 graduates who applied to schools post MBS have been accepted, 97% to medical schools.

Target Population
Students from groups historically underrepresented in medical, health professions, and biomedical sciences.

Lessons Learned
challenges and accomplishments, best practices, and/or innovations or general program framework description, transferability

• Placement as program within Duke University School of Medicine (DUSOM) provides opportunities.
• Students who take MCAT before and after MBS improved on average 20 percentile points.
• Team based learning optimized by deliberate construction of teams and intensive personal and team development.
• Learning specialist and tools such as LASSI have helped to identify relevant individualized learning strategies.
• Although MBS tuition is ~ 75% Duke undergraduate and 73% MD tuition, MBS tuition is still “high” with some, but limited, scholarship dollars.
• Diverse multidisciplinary/interprofessional passionate faculty.
• Successful collaboration with DUSOM research and Health System for gap years clinical and research jobs after MBS.
• MBS successfully transitioned through covid.
• Budget negotiations are critical.
• Uncertain impact of SCOTUS decision on race neutral admissions.
• Would benefit from robust strategic plan for the next decade and specifically plan for faculty transitions, curricular enhancements, improved graduate networking, and better resourced recruitment.