Mission-Driven

Our mission is to educate and develop exemplary physicians who practice patient-centered health care, discover and advance knowledge, and respond to community needs, especially through service to elder, rural, minority and other underserved populations. That process starts with choosing the right students – people who will work well with their patients and the entire health-care team.

So we take great care in choosing our students. Grades and test scores are important, but so are other factors. If you’re trying to develop physicians who will serve in rural areas, for example, it makes sense to seek students who are more likely to want to live in rural areas – which often means students who grew up in such areas. We also strive for a student body that is as diverse as the world of patients these future physicians will serve. In our admissions process, we look into their background and explore the details of where they grew up, to what extent they have served the underserved, what is motivating them to attend medical school and much more. Years before it’s time for them to apply, we reach out to students in rural North Florida and elsewhere who are minorities or belong to other groups underrepresented in medical schools. Through mentors and opportunities these students otherwise wouldn’t have, we introduce them to the possibility of a career in medicine.

After carefully selecting our students, we immerse them in a culture that embodies the characteristics we expect to see in our graduates. Throughout their M.D. program, Florida State medical students learn in an environment that values diversity, mutual respect, teamwork and open communication. They also actively participate in an innovative curriculum in allopathic medicine that prepares them to become lifelong learners in an era of explosive growth in medical knowledge and information technology.