You may be interested in this item. Tomorrow, September 1st, our first year medical students at Yale begin their education in medicine , and their first encounter in medical school in the context of our "Doctor-Patient Encounter Course" . The entire day will be devoted to a series of seminars, discussions and presentations based upon Anne Fadiman's book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down". Anne will join us for a part of the day to address the cultural competence issues for new physicians. This is quite a different start for this new group of medical students, all of whom were provided the book by our Associate Dean for Students, Nancy Angoff MD, as summer reading to prepare for opening day, as were the participating faculty such as myself and my wife. It seems the Hmong story will serve as the entree to medicine for the next generation of new Yale physicians.

Frank Bia MD Professor of Medicine Yale University School of Medicine