MD Program Students:

If you have questions related to your specific circumstances as a current student in the MD program, please contact Student Affairs directly. If emergent, you may use the Student Affairs emergency hotline (215.991.8184), or email if not urgent.

The Office of Student Affairs & Career Advising continues to operate full time (remotely) with uninterrupted delivery of all services and resources to support students personally, academically, for career guidance, with financial planning and/or for any other student needs. The Student Affairs deans and staff can be reached by email or phone.

Medical School Office of Student Wellbeing: The health providers in the Office of Student Wellbeing continue to provide care for medical students virtually. Students can contact the providers by phone or email.

All medical school course directors and thread faculty are conducting classes online and continue to be available to students by Zoom or email.

Graduate Students:

If you have questions related to your specific circumstances as a current graduate student in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Students, please contact your program director, faculty advisor or academic administrator.

• Learn more about Biomedical Science Programs
• Learn more about Interdisciplinary & Career-Oriented Programs
• Learn more about Pre-Medical & Pre-Health Programs

Aside from self-isolating, if a student has developed fever with cough or shortness of breath, or has had contact with someone who is suspected to have coronavirus, the student is advised to call the Drexel Student Health Center right away at 215.220.4700. Students in the MD program must also contact Student Affairs using the Student Affairs emergency hotline (215.991.8184).

Please send all licensing forms to QLCert@drexel.edu. Transcripts can be requested through Drexel One. Only electronic transcripts are available at this time. If you have any issue satisfying the transcript requirements for your residency, contact QLCert@drexel.edu. For residencies that require final transcripts, please request the transcript after you receive an email from the Registrar stating that you have satisfied all degree requirements and are clear to graduate. Emails are sent on a rolling basis as students complete fourth-year requirements.

Please also continue to check your Drexel email and the Commencement website for updates.

Students who have questions about financial aid, billing, etc. should contact Drexel Central.

Remote instruction will continue for all courses in the graduate programs. Except where otherwise specified, classes will meet remotely at their regularly scheduled times. For those programs participating in spring break, March 23 – March 27, the break will carry on as normal.

Posted graduation dates and deadlines, including application for degree, will remain the same. Please consult with your academic program regarding any additional graduation dates and deadlines. Please continue to check your Drexel email and the Commencement website for updates.

Students who have questions about financial aid, billing, etc. should contact Drexel Central.

Graduate students receiving compensation via stipend are asked to complete their work remotely. Stipends will continue during this period as long as work is performed. Please contact your principal investigator (PI) if you have any questions or concerns.

Please contact Drexel University Instructional Technology for IT help and for information on accessing Drexel services and resources remotely. For technical help and information on accessing medical school resources, please contact the Technology in Medical Education (TIME) team at TIME@drexel.edu.

Student and academic support services will continue to operate in a remote format. Please check Drexel websites for updated hours and operations.

Visit the Drexel University Libraries website for updated hours and information about remote operations.

The Center for Learning and Academic Success Services (CLASS) will be offering tutoring and peer academic coaching exclusively through online modalities. They can also help support students adjust to online learning. Register for one of their upcoming workshops on online learning.

Faculty and professional staff are advised to seek medical care by calling their primary care doctor and asking to be evaluated for the COVID-19 infection. Immediately after calling your provider, please contact covid19health@drexel.edu and provide your name and a phone number to be contacted by a Drexel representative. It is imperative that the University is aware of any exposure risk to the members of the Drexel community.

Faculty members will continue to be compensated in accordance with Drexel’s current practice.

If the professional staff member is able and approved to work remotely, they will not be required to use their leave time. Members of a collective bargaining unit should refer to their union contract.

If the professional staff member is unable to work remotely, they will be paid via their sick leave. If they do not have enough sick leave accrued, the professional staff member will be permitted to utilize future sick leave accruals to ensure that there is no disruption in pay. Members of a collective bargaining unit should refer to their union contract.

If the individual is experiencing symptoms and is unable to work as a result, they are required to use their sick leave. If needed, the professional staff member will be permitted to utilize future sick leave accruals to ensure that there is no disruption in pay. Members of a collective bargaining unit should refer to their union contract.

Please see the Office of Research & Innovation Research Enterprise Guidance in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic website for information.

The Office of Admissions would like to address the concerns of MD Program applicants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is causing unprecedented disruption to academic work and MCAT testing.

The College of Medicine is keenly aware of the many challenges that applicants are facing and we understand the need to be flexible in our approach to admissions during this time.

Please be advised of the following:

• The Admissions Committee will accept Pass/Fail, online, and courses not taken at an applicant’s “home school” without penalty to the applicant.
• The deadline to complete the 2021 application is extended from January 1 to February 1.
• The date to submit MCATs will be extended from September of 2020 to the last date in 2020 that the MCAT is offered. MCATs from 2021 will only be accepted for special program students.
• 2020-2021 applicants will not be penalized for experiences they had planned to complete or participate in that were impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic.
• All applicants will receive a secondary application. Applicants with complete files who indicate they intend to sit for a future MCAT testing in 2020 will be held for review until the results of that testing have been received.

Please continue to visit our website for the latest information about this evolving situation.

For questions, please contact the Admissions Office by email at medadmis@drexel.edu.

College of Medicine 2020-2021 MD program applicant interviews are being conducted virtually. Interviews are by invitation only. For questions about admission to the MD program, please email medadmis@drexel.edu. Detailed information about the MD program and the admissions process can be found at MD Program Admissions.

For questions about the graduate programs and applying to the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies, please email CoM_GraduateSchool@drexel.edu, or use the chat function on our program web pages. There are also many online open houses available for more information.

Accelerating COVID-19 Research and Development
Generous support from Drexel’s Board of Trustees enabled the University’s Office of Research and Innovation to create the Rapid Response Research and Development Fund, which is supporting more than a dozen urgent action projects focused on COVID-19 health-related research and development. The work supported by this fund includes the production of new medical masks and face shields, a new app to track infections, vaccine-related research and the chronicling of mental health impacts.

Drexel College of Medicine picked for NIH study on COVID-19
Charles B. Cairns, MD, the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean, and senior vice president of medical affairs at the College of Medicine, was quoted in a June 11 6ABC story about researchers from the College of Medicine and Tower Health collaborating to take part in a national NIH study on the immune responses of COVID-19 patients.

Drexel’s Interdisciplinary Battle Against COVID-19
From administering COVID tests to conducting case investigation and contact tracing, the University has relied on a cross-college battalion of faculty, professional staff and students to protect Dragons against the coronavirus.

Will we actually have a COVID-19 vaccine in 12-18 months?
Dr. McGonigle and Dr. Kutzler, College of Medicine faculty, recently contributed to this important, informative conversation about a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

IHS Student Shayna Zanker Brings Smiles to Patients Through her "Smile Badge" Project
Shayna Zenker (IHS Class of 2021) is helping frontline health care providers comfort COVID-19 patients with a smile, without ever taking off their masks. Zenker collects medical professionals' names and smiling self-portraits and uses them to make "Smile Badges," which show patients what their health care provider looks like under their personal protective equipment.

College of Medicine and Tower Health Researchers Study Immune Responses Among COVID-19 Patients in Nationwide NIH Study
Researchers at Drexel University’s College of Medicine and Tower Health are among 10 leading medical institutions nationwide embarking on a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to uncover insights that may help answer these questions and others about the immune responses to COVID-19. The clinical trial was mentioned in a June 10 WFMZ-TV (Allentown, Pennsylvania) segment.

Medical Students Team Up to Supply PPE to Philly Hospitals
The College of Medicine was mentioned in a Jewish Exponent article about Philadelphia medical students joining forces to supply personal protective equipment to area hospitals.

University Providing $100,000 to Support Urgent, Short-term COVID-19 Research
College of Medicine faculty members are involved in more than half of all the short-term, urgent action COVID-19 research and development efforts receiving support from the University’s $100,000 Rapid Response Research & Development Fund.

MD Students Form Task Force to Collect PPE
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has changed the routines of daily life for many, but Drexel University College of Medicine students are working together – and collaborating with new student groups – to make the best of the difficult situation.

Video: Why Do We Need Clinical Trials of Treatments and What Will They Tell Us?
Charles B. Cairns, MD, dean of the College of Medicine and Leslie McClure, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Dornsife, discuss the role of clinical trials in stopping COVID-19's spread.

Prioritizing Transplants When Other Surgeries Are on Hold
Meera Nair Harhay, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, was quoted in an April 6 Medscape article about prioritizing transplants when other surgeries are on hold during the pandemic.

Retired doctors want to return to work to fight COVID-19. Here's what they need to know
Nielufar Varjavand, MD, a professor of medicine, program director of the Physician Refresher/Reentry Course, director of Global Health Education and co-director of Case-Based Learning, was quoted in an AAMC News article about what retired doctors need to know before returning to work to fight the coronavirus.

Webinar: Development of COVID-19 Therapeutics
Faculty from Drexel University College of Medicine presented a webinar on the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines for COVID19 on Wednesday, April 22 at 12 p.m.

Dean Charles Cairns – Can Antibody Testing Reveal Immunity for COVID-19?
Drexel University College of Medicine Dean Charles B. Cairns, MD, discusses antibody testing for confirming immunity to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Trump touted an anti-malaria drug for the coronavirus. Now Philly patients who need it can’t get it.
Akhil Vaidya, PhD, a professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and director of the Center for Molecular Parasitology, was quoted in a March 25 Philadelphia Inquirer article about people stockpiling an anti-malaria drug touted by President Trump as a treatment for COVID-19.

Charles B. Cairns, MD, dean of Drexel University College of Medicine, on COVID-19
Charles B. Cairns, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, FAHA, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs, provides information about the novel coronavirus and what steps can be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Q&A with College of Medicine Dean Charles B. Cairns, MD
In this Q&A, Charles B. Cairns, MD, the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president of medical affairs, discusses the known risks of COVID-19 and prevention of its spread.

Drexel University working to fill critical need for COVID-19 masks and respirators

How antibody tests work and could help fight the coronavirus