In December of last year, Jennifer Hasvold, M.D., board-certified Internal Medicine Hospitalist at Rapid City Hospital, took over as Associate Dean for the Rapid City campus of University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine (USDSSOM). The position was previously held by Monument Health Neurologist Matthew Simmons, MD, FAAN, who also serves as a professor in Neurosciences at the USDSSOM.
The medical school doesn’t have a centralized classroom or facility. Instead, they recruit organizations, such as Monument Health, to help facilitate the ongoing education of future doctors. “We rely on physicians across the entire state of South Dakota to provide the clinical education for our students,” says Dr. Tim Ridgway, Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the University of South Dakota. “It’s just a win-win. Monument Health helps to provide clinical education for our students. Students love it here. They want to come back. It’s just a really gratifying thing to see.”
The experience is one where a student may discover their passion for a specific discipline that they can then choose to focus on during their subsequent residency. “Our students are here for their clerkships, which are sort of the fundamental clinical rotations that every medical student across the country has to do — internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, OB-GYN, neurology, psychiatry,” Dr. Hasvold says. “Then they can do electives and things like palliative care, intensive care. We have rotations that focus on care of the underserved or focus on health education. So our campus helps students find preceptors (instructors) for their core clinical rotations, and we also support students in those elective rotations as well.”
Although a graduate of University of Michigan’s medical school, Dr. Hasvold is a South Dakota native who chose to come back to practice medicine. USDSSOM’s approach made a lasting impression. “Something that I have reflected on now that I’ve had the opportunity to precept and be a faculty for USD over the last 10 years is that our students really do gain a lot by finding mentors here in the community,” she says. “The real hard work of clinical teaching falls on all the faculty in the community and they’ve made a commitment to helping students grow and learn.”
Dr. Ridgway is very confident in the program’s continued success under Dr. Hasvold’s guidance. “When Dr. Hasvold got this position, I was just absolutely thrilled,” he says. “She has been invested in education. She loves giving back to these students. She is an incredible role model. I see really positive things for the Rapid City Campus going forward.”
Story: Kory Lanphear
Photos: Bob Slocum