Welcome to the MD Program

Welcome to VP&S. Our goal is to provide you with an outstanding education to prepare you to become a leader in our profession. We aim to create an inclusive environment for learning and living that will allow you to excel in developing your interests and strengths in medicine.

Columbia has over 2,000 faculty, and we still accept only 140 students a year. This allows us to focus on each of you to cultivate your medical interest and career passions. Due to the generous support of Roy and Diana Vagelos as well as many other alumni and donors, VP&S is committed to student financial assistance; VP&S was the first medical school in the nation to replace student loans with scholarships for all students who qualify for financial aid.

The curriculum is designed to prepare you to question data and discover new insights in medicine; to teach patients, students, and residents; and to provide the highest quality of equitable patient care, modeling the very best of humanism and professionalism. Beginning in the winter of your third year you will be able to explore your interests in medicine through electives and the scholarly project. The faculty is eager to help you and to provide opportunities for research in an area of interest, service in an underserved community in the United States or a developing country, or in the social sciences or education. Our combined degree programs and a fifth-year for research offer other opportunities to hone your interests and acquire the skills needed to succeed in your future career.

While at VP&S, we encourage you to take advantage of the myriad extracurricular opportunities in music, theater, athletics, and interest groups provided by the VP&S Club. The other schools on campus and at the Morningside campus will offer you further opportunities for growth and collaboration in your education. The curriculum as well as the extracurricular option allows you to create an individualized learning experience unique to you and supported by our faculty and staff. I encourage you to take full advantage of all these opportunities at VP&S.  Every day our faculty, staff, and students work towards our mission— to care, to discover, to educate, and to serve our community and the world.

Monica L. Lypson, MD, MHPE,
Vice Dean for Education
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeon