University of Maryland School of Medicine - Terrae Mariae Medicus (Baltimore, MD)

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Foreword To sum up four years in only one volume is a Herculean task for an ordinary person. How- ever, for the past four years we have found, much to our amazement, that we are surrounded by and have eventually become unordinary peo- ple. Through our rigourous training, both of soma and psyche, we have left the common hoard of those who sleep, eat, and live as homo sapiens and have joined the world ' s oldest and largest fraternity, the Medical Profession. We have now entered into a new realm of living (for want of a better adjective) uncertain hours, indefinite personal schedules, inadequate sleep, and the most rewarding and fulfilling life possi- ble. Thus, after four long years, which passed all too rapidly, we find ourselves to be physicians; healers of the ill, consolers to the unconsolable, and prescribers of remedies to the multitude. Thus we have decided to dedicate this an- thology, the survey of the making of a physician, to the raw material which is the human clay molded into a new being after four years. We dedicate this yearbook to the unsung, but often upbraided hero of this saga, the medical student. In the pages to follow, the message between the lines and deep within the pictures, is ac- knowledgement and gratitude for the effort extended to help us reach our goal; a goal which means so many different things to different people, but which is summarized in the oath we take and follow, and most succinctly in the degree we are so proud to now hold, doctor of MEDICINE.

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Dedication No structure, however grand, can arise with- out a foundation nor can it stand without proper materials. No matter how competent the archi- tect, his buildings must be wrought of steel. No matter how articulate the orator, his oration is as strong as his basic facts. And no matter how renowned the physician, his practice is only as secure as his medical foundation, i.e. his training as a medical student. Thus, as we enter our new profession and join into the eternal brotherhood of medicine, we wish to pause and reflect on the four years which saw the metamorphosis of student into physician. It was just four years ago which saw our entrance into a program of training which appeared so formidable that many felt the pangs of fear of failure and indeed there were those who. few though they were, were left by the wayside. Thru our exposure to anatomy, physi- ology, biochemistry, and microanatomy, we found medicine to be a jealous mistress, if not an elusive one. The pre -clinical years sped by and we felt that the world of clinical medicine was still some closely guarded secret, a rare aphrodisiac which we were not yet allowed to taste. But this notion was short-lived. For we now were confronted with the living pathol- ogy which we had steadfastly read of, peered at thru microscopes, and examined macroscopi- cally those first two formative years. Now we were called upon to utilize what once seemed merely words, words, and more words. All too suddenly we find our training ended and we are no longer medical students, but now the eternal students of medicine, of disease, of life and death. But as we enter into our new roles as physi- cians, we can never forget our beginnings, as humble (usually) neophytes, leaving the world of 24 hour days, three meals a day. sensible liv- ing conditions and the like for a new world of undreamed of fulfillment and gratification de- spite sleepless nights, hectic hours, and never- ending demands. We can never forget that even our instructors, those dedicated guides thru the myriad caverns of learning, were once also medical students. It has been a demanding, oft-times hectic, but finally rewarding and immeasurably profitable four years. The knowledge and skills we have been taught and have developed are ours for- ever. Our limits indefinable, our goals infinite, and our careers ending and beginning. We are ending our careers as medical students and be- ginning to use our new skills and our art as physicians. But we will never forget, no matter what our future attainment, how we began as embryo physicians and how, thru diligent tutor- ing, a new species emerged, the new physicians. For this reason, this edition of TERRAE MARIAE MEDICUS, this anthology of transi- tion from student to practitioner, is dedicated to the most important ingredient in the brewing of new physicians, the medical student. O. E. D.