University of California San Francisco
UCSF School of Medicine UCSF Medical Center

Student Medical Education Council Charge

Updated 9/2020

The Bridges Curriculum is designed to produce physicians for the 21st Century who improve health and reduce suffering. To govern this complex curriculum, the Medical Education Leadership and the Committee on Curriculum and Educational Policy (CCEP) have developed a new governance structure that will streamline communication across committees, improve curricular integration, and incorporate the responsibilities and management of all new and existing components of the curriculum. The structure aims to be inclusive of students, clinical and basic science faculty, staff, and administrative leadership. This charge document describes the role and responsibilities of the Bridges Student Medical Education Council (SMEC), whose primary goal is to encourage student participation in, and learning about, medical education; to facilitate adoption of student-driven initiatives; and to engage students in key updates, communications, and feedback sessions. At least one student will serve on every Curriculum Governance Subcommittee.

  1. Students who are committee members are expected to attend all meetings in person or via video conference, but it is understood that there may be times when extenuating circumstances (e.g. conflicting clinical rotation) arise. When such a time occurs, the student member is expected to work with the committee Chair and Steward to provide input in advance of the meeting, if feasible.
  2. Governance committees, including the Executive Committee, meet on a monthly basis via videoconference.
  3. Students are expected to engage peers to understand the broader student opinions and provide a representative student voice within their committees.
  4. All students are to serve as active participants in the SMEC described below.
  5. Students are to share information, decisions, and issues from their subcommittees with their peers on other committees and raise any cross-committee issues, concerns and/or important dialogue.
  6. Because the continuous improvement cycles in the curriculum rely heavily on student feedback, students who have been unable to attend any committee meetings in a given academic year (June-June) may be considered for a shift to an ad-hoc role, so that space for new students to engage can be opened up.
  7. Students serving in any capacity should feel empowered to join projects and working groups that appeal to them and match their availability, and should reach out to SMEC co-chairs as well as subcommittee chairs to identify these opportunities.

Student Medical Education Council (SMEC) Responsibilities

  1. The SMEC is as a standing committee, charged by the Bridges Executive Operations Committee.
  2. SMEC members are chosen through a process of self-nomination. Students must be considered in good academic standing to be selected.
  3. All members are ex officio, voting members. Ex officio status is based on appointment to other curriculum committees.
  4. Student terms are for the entire time they are enrolled in the MD program.
  5. Two Co-Chairs are appointed by the Associate Dean for Curriculum.
  6. Co-Chair term is for one year, renewable for the duration of the Co-Chair’s UCSF medical student tenure.
  7. The two Co-Chairs are ex officio members of the Executive Committee and are responsible for representing the views of the SMEC at large.
  8. The SMEC meets every other month via videoconference.
  9. The Co-Chairs are responsible for communicating critical curricular updates from the Executive Committee meetings to the SMEC. In addition, the chairs are responsible for working with the Associate Dean for Curriculum to develop the SMEC meeting agendas.

New Student Role – Ad Hoc Taskforce Member

  1. This is a role for students who wish to participate in medical education initiatives, but who may not have the ability to commit to the regular time needed for standing governance committee work.
  2. Students have the ability to volunteer for participation in taskforce or workgroup activities as needed by the curriculum. Groups are selected by the SMEC Co-Chairs.
  3. Ad Hoc members are not voting members of the SMEC, but are welcome to attend meetings.
  4. At least one member of an Ad Hoc taskforce will be required to attend an SMEC meeting when asked to present/share the work of the group.
  5. Taskforce members will be required to meet outside of the SMEC meetings based on a meeting schedule determined by the scope of work of the taskforce.