Curriculum Year 2
The second year of the MD Program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison builds on the understanding of biological processes and the broader social context of medicine taught in the first year with a new focus on disease processes and the basic mechanisms of therapeutics.
Medical students will learn pathophysiology, relating it to the context of the whole patient and the system in which the patient functions. Material from previous courses is integrated into ongoing learning activities, providing students with the necessary knowledge base for the transition into the clinical years and subsequent years of medical learning.
MD Program Curriculum Structure Beginning 2009-2010 
In the 2009-2010 academic year, courses at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health have been organized into integrated blocks that include pathophysiology of systems as well as related material from other courses, such as pharmacology and neoplasia. New blocks on the musculoskeletal and dermatologic systems have been added and a neuropsychiatry block will be formed to integrate the neuropsychiatry sciences of clinical problems (neurology, neuropathology and psychiatry.)
Final examinations will occur at the end of these blocks, followed by integrative activities that draw on past and future learning and make connections across the fields of basic science, clinical medicine and public health.
MD Program Year 2 Required Courses
Assessments: Major assessment of Year 2 courses occurs at the end of each organ system block.