PROPOSAL FOR AN INTEGRATED SCIENCE CURRICULUM IN MEDICAL-EDUCATION

Background: Despite increasing awareness of their importance in health care, and repeated calls for their incorporation, the behavioral and social sciences are minimally represented and poorly integrated with b iomedical sciences in medical school curricula. Summary: In this artic le, I discuss the lack of an integrating model and the continuing dema rcation along discipline-based departmental lines of biologic and soci obehavioral sciences curricula. An integrated sciences model and curri culum are proposed. Conclusions: Behavioral medicine research that see ks to explain the how of biobehavioral links and universal principles such as stress, offer keys to a medical education approach that integr ates biologic and sociobehavioral sciences phenomena. I discuss a conc eptual framework of this approach and strategies for its implementatio n.