A program for implementing and strengthening teaching and research in preventive pulmonary medicine is proposed with these objectives: 1) to design and incorporate preventive pulmonary medicine teaching materials and topics in the pre-clinical curriculum; 2) to develop an elective course for seniors that emphasizes approaches to preventing lung diseases; 3) to incorporate segments of preventive approaches to lung disease into the didactic lectures of the clinical clerkships; 4) to enhance postgraduate medical training in the prevention of lung disease directed towards housestaff, fellows, faculty, and community physicians; and 5) to cohesively bring together the multidisciplinary talents of the University in a fashion that will foster education and research in the prevention of lung diseases now and in the future after the end of the award period. A curriculum development plan proposes numerous inputs of principles of preventive pulmonary medicine to undergraduate college studies, to each of the four years of the medical school curriculum, to housestaff and pulmonary fellowship training, and to community physicians. The research goals will be directed towards the evaluation of medical-education techniques on the topic of preventive pulmonary medicine in groups of fourth-year medical students. An evaluation plan will be developed with the help of the Educational Development Unit at Michael Reese Hospital, whose expertise will be utilized to implement educational techniques and research designs in education to assure quality control of the program and to determine whether the proposed curriculum is effective.
