April 4, 2002 (Little Rock) Commencement lies just over the horizon for UAMS senior students eager for their long-anticipated graduation ceremony coming up in mid-May. Yet, other “students” on the UAMS campus look forward to an earlier graduation, this year and in years to come. These “early-birds” are the student participants in the College of Medicine’s Mini Medical School (MMS).

Beginning April 4, they’ll attend six two-hour MMS informal talks on consecutive Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. and get a realistic glimpse of what medical school is like. The structure of each session includes a 45-minute lecture, a refreshment break, another 45-minute lecture, and a lively question-and-answer-session. The talks will be held on the UAMS campus on West Markham Street in the Education III building, rooms G225 and G219. Free parking is available to participants in the Markham Street parking deck.

The theme for this year’s Mini Medical School is “Public Health and Preventive Medicine.” This year students can register online, a first for the program. Another alternative offered for the first time this year is streaming video of the talks online, which may be viewed on the Web by those who may be unable to attend MMS. Viewers can click on www.minimed.uams.edu and follow the prompts.

Since the beginning in 1991, MMS has grown into a major public service and educational program for the local community and the state. MMS has enriched the lives of “students” of all ages - from 9 to 93. The college is one of a few medical schools in the country to offer Mini Medical School as a free community service, with a “diploma” and a “graduation ceremony” for the graduates.

Claire Luelf, M.D., now a resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry, was a student of the first Mini Medical School, held in 1991. She was contemplating medical school when a brochure for MMS arrived at her home. “I had just decided the night before to take the MCAT,” said Dr. Luelf, who at the time was a high school science teacher at Yellville Summit High School in Yellville. “I got the brochure because I was a science teacher, and I saw it as a way for me to earn continuing education credits.”

When she arrived at her first MMS course, she met Jay Menna, Ph.D., associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, then coordinator for the program along with Richard Jacobs, M.D., in the Department of Pediatrics. “Dr. Menna was so encouraging. It was like it was meant to be,” said Luelf, who became more convinced after her MMS experience that she was making the right career decision.

As a psychiatry resident in the last year of her post-graduate medical studies, she continues to participate in MMS as an occasional volunteer. She is one of many medical students who assist with the program each year by directing parking, greeting students or preparing nametags. She has helped perennial students like Dick and Judy Marendt, who have been to nearly every MMS since start-up.

When recording studio executive Dick Marendt first heard about MMS at UAMS, he knew it was something he wanted to attend. He has attended sessions year after year since its 1991 beginning. His wife, Judy, has joined him on several occasions. Jointly, they have earned nearly 20 MMS diplomas.

“Mini Medical School is an incredible opportunity to learn the latest developments in health care,” he said. “It’s interesting to learn about new procedures and new ideas and to know that there is a facility right here in Arkansas with skilled physicians who can perform these high-tech procedures. Every session I’ve been to, I have learned something useful,” said Marendt.

Dr. Menna was the program’s first coordinator, a position he assumed for the first five years of the program. “With that very first Mini Medical School, we were amazed with the number of people from the community that attended. That turnout has continued to grow each year,” said Menna.

The first year’s program theme followed a basic medical school curriculum. Students attended sessions on the curriculum of the first two years of medical school. Luelf said the experience was perfect, since she had been thinking about going to medical school. Along with Luelf, Menna noted the enthusiasm of other MMS participants. He said, “It was amazing, we were teaching basic anatomy and biology and people were really interested in learning about the human body.”

James Pasley, Ph.D., is the program’s current coordinator. MMS has offered courses on a wide-range of topics including women’s health, cardiovascular health and mental health. “I wasn’t sure if the women’s health topic would draw a big crowd, since the topic might have pre-excluded men, but we had a surprisingly good turnout,” said Dr. Pasley, who was coordinator for that session in 2000.

During the first few years of the program, an amphitheater with a seating capacity of nearly 700 persons was used. When the Harry P. Ward tower was built on the campus, the amphitheater was deconstructed and MMS moved to its current location, the nearby Education III (ED III) building.

Because of the large number of students who attend the MMS sessions, the first lecturer of the evening is simulcast from one hall to the other. After the break, the second lecturer speaks in the other hall. Thus, every MMS student is given the opportunity to listen to a speaker in person, regardless of the room site.

Students come from diverse occupations and disciplines - nursing, plumbing, and teaching, to name a few - and travel from all over the state to attend the yearly program. Some retirees living outside the Little Rock area spend the night in town after attending the sessions, return home the following day and repeat the process week after week of the program.

Students who attend three or more sessions are awarded a diploma at the end of Mini Medical School. During a mock graduation ceremony, students receive their diploma to the sound of “Pomp and Circumstance” music. After the ceremony, students eat graduation cake and have a chance to mingle with other students, “real” medical students and faculty. Repeat students like the Marendts find it a very rewarding experience.

“Anytime you can gain information about health, it’s valuable. It’s important that as individuals we get this information, and that’s the wonderful part of UAMS. Mini Medical School makes us aware of what an important asset we have in this community,” said Marendt.

Menna added that the College of Medicine’s Mini Medical School is not only an asset to the community at large but also to the UAMS community. He said, “Attending programs like Mini Medical School helps us develop a better appreciation for what goes on here. We oftentimes look at coming here every day as simply an ‘I went to work’ thing. But, when you find out what’s going on around you - truly incredible things occur on this campus in health care and research. It’s phenomenal.”

To register online, watch streaming video of the presentations or for more information visit www.minimed.uams.edu. For more information, call 501-686-8520.