Khan Academy and Stanford medical school

During the initial discussions around medical education reform, one model that's been kicked around is incorporating the Khan Academy format of moving didactic out of the classroom and protecting that time for more meaningful learning (discussions, projects, one-on-one, etc.). It looks like we've been moving ahead on this: Salman Khan came to Stanford and recorded a few videos with our faculty, including:

• Andy Connolly (pathology of colon cancer)
• Loren Baker (how physicians are paid, overview of health care systems)
• Neil Gesundheit (intro to endocrinology)
• Charles Prober (bacterial meningitis)
• Swaminatha Mahadevan (radiology of the cervical spine)
• Laura Bachrach (precocious puberty)
  
• Abraham Verghese (ritual of the physical exam)

One of my former students, Morgan Theis, makes a few appearances as Sal Khan's mentee in this project.

Andy's four-part series on the evolution of colon cancer resonated with me personally, of course. Also, because when Sal Khan asks, "how can you tell the difference between the lymphocytes and the cancer cells?" Andy deadpans, "it's because I'm a pathologist."