Loma Linda medical students have the unique opportunity to utilize their skills in human betterment. Seniors rotate through advanced training in medicine and surgery and finish their degree with four months of electives. As juniors, students spend time in clinical rotations and instruction in family medicine, gynecology and obstetrics, medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, and surgery. Medical students spend the first two years studying a heavy science curriculum balanced by classwork in human behavior, religion, and ethics.
Loma Linda students are trained in a context emphasizing the patient's needs and preventive care to offset the future disease. The school has always endeavored to combine the best medical science with caring, Christian compassion. Since opening in 1909, Loma Linda University's School of Medicine has been training skilled medical professionals with a commitment to Christian service.
The Master of Science degree provides content appropriate for persons preparing to teach at the secondary level or in related professional school areas, or for persons intending to pursue careers as research technicians. In addition to technical skills, doctoral degree students are expected to develop creativity and independence. The Doctor of Philosophy degree is designed to prepare the graduate for a career in independent research and teaching in the university, clinical, biotechnological, or government environments. They acquire experience in scientific communication by participating in seminars, writing critical reviews, and reporting results of research experience either in thesis/dissertation form or as publishable/published papers. While working on a significant research problem, students are introduced to research methods through scientific literature and the laboratory. Study and research on other species and in other biomedical disciplines may be included in the student's curriculum. Course work provides opportunities for qualified students not only to study all aspects of human morphology from both didactic and investigative points of view but also to develop a special area of research interest. The core curriculum offers a broad biomedical background. The School of Medicine's Division of Anatomy offers curricula leading to the Master of Science or the Doctor of Philosophy degree.