A physician's education never ends, and for the past
50 years the Philip A. Tumulty Topics in Clinical Medicine
course has been a bastion for docs seeking continuing
medical instruction.
This year marks the golden anniversary of the course,
which annually attracts nearly 300 health care providers
from around the globe to learn about the latest advances in
internal medicine from leading Johns Hopkins faculty. It
will be held May 2 to 6 at the Turner Building on the JHMI
campus.
Designed for physicians primarily interested in
internal medicine, the groundbreaking course highlights
recent and significant advances in areas of general
clinical interest. In addition to short discussions with
faculty and patients about specific disease problems, the
course includes conferences and symposia devoted to
important, broad areas of clinical medicine.
To celebrate the anniversary, two of the School of
Medicine's most renowned faculty — Myron Weisfeldt,
chair of the
Department of Medicine, and Martin Abeloff, director of
Oncology — will give presentations on the
advances that have occurred in the last half-century in
cardiology and oncology. The course will also feature a
symposium in honor of John Bartlett in recognition of his
25 years as chief of the
Division of
Infectious Diseases. The symposium will be titled
"Fifty Years of ID: Lessons Learned."
Topics in Clinical Medicine, offered through the SoM's
Office of Continuing
Medical Education, was founded in 1955 by Philip
Tumulty, who believed that Johns Hopkins faculty should
communicate their expertise in internal medicine to those
outside the institution. To maximize the program's
collegial atmosphere, Tumulty wanted the course held on the
East Baltimore campus and for faculty to intermingle with
participants at informal lunches and a featured social
activity.
"We know that one of his objectives was to be certain
that, in addition to being educational, the course was also
a social event," said William Schlott, Philip A. Tumulty
Associate Professor of Medicine and co-director of the
Topics in Clinical Medicine course. "He wanted to be sure
that the faculty interacted with the registrants, and that
is a policy that we have continued — and it's the
major reason why we never switched to having it in a
downtown hotel, which some have suggested we do. The
advantage of having it right here is that faculty can just
walk across the street from the hospital to the Turner
Building."
Schlott said the course, which again this year will
draw more than 300 physicians to Baltimore, has spawned
many imitators.
"We have a lot of competition, certainly," Schlott
said. "Originally, this was the only course of its type.
Now the University of Virginia; the University of
California, San Francisco; and many other academic medical
centers have this kind of course. Many of these schools
host their programs at places like Aspen or Santa Fe, but
we are going to keep ours right here. People who come here,
in particular those who come back each year, are coming for
the course, and not because it's a vacation
destination."
Philip Tumulty served on the School of Medicine
faculty for nearly 50 years, heading the Department of
Medicine's inpatient and outpatient services for 17 years
and helping to found the Division of Internal Medicine, of
which he was the first director. Known as an unequaled
diagnostician and a champion of the humanistic approach to
medicine, he focused his scholarship on the study of the
natural history of disease. Before his death in 1989,
colleagues and patients honored him with the Tumulty
Endowment Fund for the support of internal medicine.
Selected memorabilia concerning Tumulty and the
program he founded — including personal letters,
pictures and programs from the course's first decade
— will be on display at the Turner Building during
the week.
Today, the course remains dedicated to Tumulty's
vision of providing the best summaries of the advances in
internal medicine and extending the hospitality of Johns
Hopkins' faculty. Popular components of the course are the
featured social event, to be held this year at the National
Aquarium in Baltimore, and the meet-the-professor sessions,
where groups of eight to 10 registrants have an informal
meeting with a faculty member to discuss his or her
expertise.
Schlott, who has been involved with Topics in Clinical
Medicine since the early 1970s, said that faculty who
participate in the course are encouraged to stay after
their sessions to talk shop with the registrants.
"I think that is one of the reasons we have many
physicians who come back year after year — they get
to know our faculty," Schlott said. "I think our repeat
visitors are also an indication that we do a good job. We
are providing something that they find valuable in their
own practices."
The course, which is worth up to 38.5 category 1
credits, costs $800 for physicians and $650 for residents,
fellows, nurses and allied health professionals. The
cut-off date for registration is today. Registrations
received after 5 p.m. on April 25 will be subject to a $50
late fee. To register, call 410-955-2959. For more
information, go to
www.hopkinscme.net and enter keyword "Tumulty."
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