The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine MD program

The faculty's guiding principles shape the teaching: science and clinical knowledge are integrated across all four years, content is taught in a clinical context, and you get hands-on clinical experience every year. In years 1 and 2 that means a systems-based block curriculum, which the 2026-27 catalog says began rolling out with the Class of 2016.

Most blocks cover a group of organ systems, and every block uses the Case of the Week format, which aligns its content with clearly defined objectives. The approach keeps lecture hours limited and stresses learning strategies you will use for life. The pre-clerkship curriculum relies on active learning sessions, so attendance matters: an unexcused absence leads to a professionalism report.

Alongside the blocks run the longitudinal clinical skills courses, Practice of Medicine in year 1 and Advanced Clinical Skills in year 2. They teach history-taking and physical examination together with ethics, professionalism and communication. They also use a biopsychosocial-spiritual model, which means weighing a patient's psychological, social and spiritual life alongside the disease.

From year 3 you learn on clinical teams. In each clerkship you work full-time at a designated site, supervised by residents and faculty, and are sometimes on call on scheduled nights and weekends. Clinical Reasoning in Medicine runs alongside to sharpen your diagnostic reasoning, decision-making and communication. The guiding principles also build in three transition courses: into medical school, into clerkships and into residency.

In year 1 you study the whole body in the UNR Med Anatomy Lab. You learn through hands-on dissection, where you uncover the structures yourself, and prosection, where you study specimens already dissected for teaching. The lab sessions are aligned with the organ-system blocks, so the anatomy follows the system you are studying.

The 3,000-square-foot lab has 28 workstations with computers and ceiling-mounted LED lamps, eight alcohol immersion tanks and a full prep room and embalming suite. It also has an Anatomage virtual dissection table and ultrasound equipment, including portable Butterfly iQ+ devices. Its bodies come from the school's whole-body donation program.

Outside the lab, the Savitt Medical Library lends more than 50 anatomical models and has an Anatomage digital anatomy table you can book. In year 4, the two-week Selected Topics in Anatomy elective gives each accepted student dissection instruments, a shared cadaver and lab access, so you can dissect in preparation for your chosen residency.

Clinical training starts in the fall of year 1, when Practice of Medicine introduces history-taking and physical examination. You also practice with standardized patients, who fill out history and examination checklists on your performance.

In the spring of year 1, Practice of Medicine moves into a preceptorship with outpatient care experiences, where you use these skills with patients. In the fall of year 2, Advanced Clinical Skills places you with community physicians. You take focused histories, examine patients, write SOAP notes (subjective, objective, assessment, plan) and begin planning care for common problems. In October 2026 the school said it and Renown had increased clinical experiences for first- and second-year students, so you work directly with physicians well before clerkships begin.

The Student Outreach Clinic adds patient contact outside the timetable, and first-year students can take part. Its free clinics offer screenings, lab tests, x-rays, EKGs, some treatments and referrals.

Outside the curriculum, you can request a summer preceptorship, extra clinical time with a practicing physician to explore a career. The school groups summer preceptorships with observerships, where you watch a physician at work, as co-curricular activities. For a preceptorship you must be in good academic standing, and one with UNR Med, Renown-affiliated or community faculty must be requested at least four weeks ahead. Research, summer preceptorships and other elective activities before year 3 do not count toward the weeks of instruction you need to graduate.

Grades follow the Final Grade Assignment Policy, in effect since September 2, 2025. The M.D. program uses two scales, Pass/Fail and Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail, and the Medical Education Steering Committee, which oversees the curriculum, decides which one each course uses. Course directors must post final grades within six weeks of a course ending.

In years 1 and 2, the 2026-27 catalog says each block ends with an assessment week of clinical skills testing and a comprehensive exam. Fail any requirement and you receive an Incomplete, meet the Student Promotion and Conduct Committee (SPCC), which oversees student progress, and remediate. A successful remediation turns the grade into a Pass but is noted in your MSPE, and you may remediate no more than two courses a year.

Clerkships award Honors. Grades come from the assessments in each syllabus, including a National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject exam, a national multiple-choice test known as a shelf exam. Shelf scores are judged by national percentile. The 16th or above passes, the 5th to 15th is a marginal pass that flags a weak area before Step 2, and below the 5th means a retake. Failing shelf exams in two clerkships takes you off the schedule until you remediate.

The USMLE is the national exam series for medical licensure. Step 1 tests the sciences basic to medicine and has been reported only as pass or fail since January 26, 2022. Step 2 CK tests how you apply clinical knowledge to supervised patient care and still gives a three-digit score. LCME accreditation is what makes students of an M.D. program like this one eligible to sit them.

UNR Med requires you to pass both. You must pass Step 1 before you are placed in clerkships, and the deadline to take it is set in the year 2 calendar; in 2026 it was May 15. Sitting it later needs the SPCC's permission and is noted in your MSPE, and your first attempt must still come within four months of the deadline. Step 2 CK must be taken by September 15 of your final year and passed by May 1 of the year you graduate.

In August 2026 the USMLE program announced a move to designated testing dates from January 2029, with Step exams offered less often each year. Its June 2026 announcement had named 2028. On the current schedule, a student entering in 2027 would sit Step 1 by about mid-May 2029, at the end of the study period that closes year 2, a few months after the switch. Step 2 CK would be due by September 15, 2030, also after it.

• Clinical Reasoning in Medicine is assessed with OSCEs in year 3.
• Every required course and clerkship includes at least one activity with written feedback from a faculty member or resident.
• The projections above follow the 2025-26 calendar and the promotion policy effective July 1, 2026. The USMLE has encouraged schools to review rules on when students must sit Step exams, so timings could change.
• You get three attempts at each Step exam. A third failure, or four failures across Step 1 and Step 2 CK, makes you subject to dismissal.
• You must finish the M.D. within six calendar years of starting, with extensions possible for a dual degree, military service or approved accommodations.
• Your MSPE places you at one of five levels, from distinguished to good. The rubric covers pre-clerkship and clerkship performance, USMLE results and, where available, leadership, service, teaching and research.

UNR Med calls itself a community-based medical school: you rotate through partner hospitals, clinics and physicians' practices, supervised by residents and faculty. Its two primary teaching hospital affiliates are Renown Health and the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System, and hundreds of community physicians also teach. In 2017 its southern clinical and teaching work moved to the new Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Today UNR Med is based in Northern Nevada, with its main campus in Reno.

Renown is the primary teaching hospital. Under a 50-year affiliation signed in 2021, the two form what they call an integrated academic health system, and Renown now runs University Health, the school's former clinical practice. Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno is a Level II trauma center that, by Renown's count, treats more than 80,000 emergency and trauma patients a year. It includes Renown Children's Hospital and is the base of the obstetrics and gynecology department.

Renown's network also includes Renown South Meadows Medical Center in south Reno. By the university's July 2026 count, the network has more than 700 providers at 60 care sites, among them 20 primary care locations, 13 urgent care centers and 29 specialty clinics. The VA's main campus is the Ioannis A. Lougaris Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Reno, which the internal medicine department works closely with. The surgery department also names Carson Tahoe Health in Carson City and other Northern Nevada hospitals.

Beyond Reno, the school says years 3 and 4 take you from urban settings to rural locations across Nevada and northeastern California. Scheduling for the four-week rural rotation opens in February of year 3, and assignments come out in March. One preceptor, a family physician at Smith Valley Physicians Clinic, has hosted students on the rotation since 2019.

Emergency medicine is taught by the Department of Emergency Medicine, launched in January 2025 with Western Emergency Physicians, whose more than 60 emergency physicians work at Renown Regional and Renown South Meadows.

• In the clinical years, duty hours are capped at 80 a week and 16 in a row, with at least 10 hours between clinical activities. You get one day in seven free, averaged over four weeks, and no more than six overnight shifts in a row.

Year 4 is built around at least 32 weeks of electives, taken in Reno and at accredited residency programs across the country. The school encourages a well-rounded clinical schedule, which you can supplement with non-clinical credit in research or other interests. Its year 4 advising page also mentions travel to other medical schools or abroad for learning experiences.

Examples on the current list include emergency medicine, cardiology, intensive care, neonatal-perinatal medicine, maternal-fetal medicine, forensic pathology, neurosurgery and ophthalmology. Other options include Wilderness Medicine, Culinary Medicine, Medical Spanish, Clinical Ethics, Radiology and Transition to Residency.

You apply for away electives through Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO), an online application service, or directly with programs outside it, from February of year 3. For competitive specialties the school suggests two to three away electives, including at least one outside the Western region.

In year 3, the four-week Selectives clerkship gives you time in specialties outside the core clerkships. Fourth-year students can also earn elective credit at the student outreach clinics, and Community Outreach Clinic appears among the family medicine electives.

UNR Med offers three dual degrees: the M.D./Ph.D., the M.D./MPH and the M.D./MBA. If the second degree starts after year 2, you must pass Step 1 before beginning it.

The M.D./Ph.D. trains physician-scientists. In September 2026 the school said it takes seven to eight years: the first two years of medical school and Step 1, then doctoral research, then a return to finish clinical training. It had 10 students enrolled and takes two direct admits a year, and you can apply before or after starting medical school.

Ph.D. tracks are Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Integrative Neuroscience. Funding is guaranteed for three years through graduate research assistantships while you focus on dissertation research.

The M.D./MPH adds a Master of Public Health from the School of Public Health, with tracks in epidemiology, health administration and policy, and social and behavioral health. You apply after starting medical school and complete the MPH between years 2 and 3 or years 3 and 4, with 3 credits counting toward both degrees. It is not formally integrated: you are admitted to each program separately and usually enrolled in one at a time.

The M.D./MBA, a Master of Business Administration with the College of Business, is aimed at leadership roles in medical practices, government, healthcare companies or research. You finish years 1 and 2, complete the MBA, typically in one year, then return for the last two years, with selected fourth-year elective credits counting toward both degrees.

Students do research through the longitudinal Independent Data Exploration and Analysis (IDEA) Project, summer programs, independent projects and scholarly concentrations. The school points to the summer between years 1 and 2 as the time to start. Options include the eight-week VA Sierra Nevada Summer Research Program, which takes two students for 2027, and the Gerty Cori Fellowship in population health. Students present at the annual Medical Student Research Day.

• Scholarly concentrations are a voluntary four-year track. The ten fields are Clinical Ethics, Culinary and Medical Nutrition, Family Medicine, Global Health, Health Policy and Advocacy, Interprofessional Education, Medical Education, Population Health, Rural and Tribal Medicine, and Wilderness Medicine.
• With a mentor you research a question, through four weeks of work between years 1 and 2 and a four-week elective in year 4, about 320 hours in all.
• You apply while in good standing after your first semester and need SPCC approval by the end of year 1.
• Rural and Tribal Medicine adds a summer rural rotation, early rotations in partnered rural and tribal clinics across Nevada, community outreach and a scholarly project.

The main UNR Med campus sits at the north end of the University of Nevada, Reno. The William N. Pennington Health Sciences building, opened in 2011, houses the Nevada Clinical Simulation Center. Its simulation lab has three separate labs, so up to three scenarios can run at once, with video and audio recording for debriefing.

The labs use high-fidelity manikins, including SimMan3G, SimBaby, SimJunior, Gaumard Victoria and Harvey, plus task trainers. The Standardized Patient Education Program recruits people of all ages and backgrounds to portray patients. The center also belongs to the Simulation Consortium of Northern Nevada with the Orvis School of Nursing and Renown Health's simulation lab.

The Savitt Medical Library offers bookable study pods, group study rooms and a Wellness Room. Its main campus library holds the Great Basin History of Medicine Museum, whose exhibits include a collection of more than 100 eyeglasses dating from the 18th century.

At Renown, learners have dedicated work and study space and the Savitt@Renown satellite library, open 24 hours with workstations and research help. A new simulation center under development in Renown's Sierra Tower is planned to include high-fidelity manikins, operating room simulation space and a da Vinci robotic surgery simulator.

The Learning and Wellness Resource Center covers both study and well-being. Its learning specialists meet students year-round to build learning plans, prepare for Step 1, Step 2 CK and shelf exams, and teach study strategies, time management and preparation for high-stakes exams.

Mental health support includes individual counseling, psychiatric care, group therapy, crisis intervention and anonymous screening. The wellness team runs community events and workshops on topics such as burnout and imposter syndrome, plus transition support at MedFIT, the start of clerkships and residency. An elected Student Wellness Committee plans further wellness initiatives.

Career advising runs through all four years, one-to-one and through workshops and specialty interest groups, and clinical advisors guide your specialty choice and applications. Year 3 brings required workshops on away rotations, specialty choice, year 4 planning and applying to residency. In year 4 you have monthly mock interview preparation and meetings with your advisor on your program list and rank list.