"No one in my immediate family,” says Lauren Kaseman, a second-year medical student, “has ever been to medical school or any other health graduate school.” Upon arriving at Pitt Med, she faced not only the academic challenges that all medical students face; she also had to contend with the “hidden curriculum,” she says, of the skills and knowledge bases often assumed known but not taught formally, like boards preparation, financial literacy or networking skills. These areas underpin a medical education but often go unstated at many medical schools, leaving students in the dark who don’t have experienced peers or family members to help them navigate.

Kaseman is far from alone. So with the 2023-24 school year, Pitt Med introduced a comprehensive program to bring this hidden curriculum into the light. Known as Pitt Med’s Coaching Program, the formal effort also helps build the connective tissue between a medical student’s academic pursuits, professional goals and personal life.

Introduced as part of the school’s new curriculum, the program pairs each first-year student with a Pitt Med faculty member coach for monthly meetings and as-needed check-ins for all four years of medical school. “Our purpose,” says Julia Meade, MD assistant professor of pediatrics, director of the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Program at Children’s Hospital of UPMC and coach, “is to help the student identify their goals, their values and how they want to live their life—and to then support that student, often through probing questions and giving the space to open up about these sometimes-difficult questions in a supportive and nonjudgmental way.”

Coaching sessions are now a focused, regular component of the curriculum. For Karensa Tjoa, whose coach is Deborah DiNardo, MD associate professor of medicine and women’s health medical director for the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, this stability makes coaching easy to include in her schedule. “I think that the [30-minute] monthly check-ins were helpful in developing the relationship.”

Previously, students were matched with coaches only if it seemed the student might be struggling or at risk of struggling, says Suzanne Templer, DO associate professor of medicine and assistant dean for student affairs, who directs the program. Beginning in fall 2023, the program has included every incoming med student, regardless of achievement level or perceived need. This change has been welcomed by many coaching faculty, including Yui Sugiura, DO assistant professor of family medicine, associate program director for UPMC McKeesport Family Medicine Residency Program and coach.

“I think it’s even better,” she says, “because even if you’re doing amazing, there’s going to be barriers and boundaries. And you still have that someone to navigate you through this really tough educational process.”

Students—like Ivy Yip, a second-year student and part of the program’s inaugural class—have also welcomed the change. Having a coach, Yip says, “takes away barriers, including internal barriers, for seeking help.”

Through coaching, students might develop study schedules, connect with other faculty in specialties of interest for residency and strategize about ways to integrate their hobbies and interests with their academic expectations.

One of the most challenging aspects of medical school is finding balance, especially in the face of burnout or overwhelm. Kaseman, whose coach is Ankur Doshi, an MD associate professor of emergency medicine, says, “I sing at my church. So Dr. Doshi said, ‘If that is something you love, let’s make a goal to keep doing that once a month.’”

Tjoa credits DiNardo with helping her to “step into this new identity of being a medical student, while finding balance and perspective.” And Yip, whose coach is also Doshi, worked with him on integrating training for a 70.3-mile triathlon into her schedule. To Yip, it seemed “unheard of” that a professor would encourage her to focus on anything but academics.

Coaches suggest strategies like reflection, journaling and other planning tools to help students stay on track with their goals.

“There is a lot of insecurity and a lot of rumors that permeate medical education,” says Meade. The coaches help students address these insecurities directly, as well as to develop savvy around that “hidden curriculum.”  

“Is there something above and beyond the curriculum and studying that I should be preparing for? How should I be building my resume for residency?” Kaseman wondered before working with Doshi.

She’s grateful to have someone to help her navigate this hidden curriculum and its timelines, she says.

Meade often reminds her students, “They are incredible people who are in a place where somebody thought that they were good enough to be a doctor.” Still, even high-achieving young people may find it hard to maintain the confidence needed to achieve in a high-pressure environment, especially one with historically unspoken rules or guidelines. Developing and maintaining this confidence in students is a primary goal for coaches.

“I wish that I had had this [program] when I was a medical student,” says Meade. “Because many times if you weren’t having any issues, you weren’t necessarily in a place where somebody was looking to help you shine either.”

But coaches now provide an essential component of Pitt Med’s core offerings: helping students grow as whole people, not just as future clinicians.

Read more from the Winter 2025 issue.