Starfleet Medical Academy

For the similarly named Federation academy, please see Federation Medical Academy.

Starfleet Medical Academy was the medical school associated with Starfleet Medical and Starfleet Academy. Students wishing to become physicians within Starfleet could apply to the Academy.

Student life

Class of 2368 graduates Julian Bashir, salutatorian, and Elizabeth Lense, valedictorian, reunite at Quark's

As a student at medical school, Leonard McCoy used to play practical jokes with trick drinking glasses that would dribble the beverage as the person drank from it. (TAS: "The Practical Joker")

Julian Bashir designed a candy bar that was superior in food value to that of Starfleet combat rations during his time at the Academy. (DS9: "The Siege")

Bashir was also the captain of the Academy racquetball team. That team won the Sector Championships during his final year against a Vulcan rival. (DS9: "Rivals")

Curriculum

During their first year, medical students were taught that medical tricorders were very accurate with living people but not so with the deceased. (DS9: "The Passenger")

The Academy offered engineering extension courses to interested students who wished to supplement their medical training. (DS9: "Armageddon Game")

One 24th century professor at the Medical Academy taught that the brain had a "spark of life" that couldn't be replicated. Bashir recalled this comment when facing the question of replacing parts of Bareil Antos' brain with artificial implants. (DS9: "Life Support")

Final exams and graduation

The final graduation exams for Starfleet Medical Academy included an oral exam. Julian Bashir mistook a preganglionic fiber for a postganglianic nerve during his oral exam. As a result, the valedictorian of his class was Elizabeth Lense. (DS9: "Explorers")

The Starfleet Medical Academy seems to be a separate institution from Starfleet Academy, just as the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is separate from the individual military academies of the United States Armed Forces.

Bashir was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade for his first assignment after graduation, unlike graduates of the "regular" academy who typically received the rank of ensign. According to Ron D. Moore, Bashir first went to Starfleet Academy, and only then to medical school. He was given the lieutenant rank to let him keep pace with his original academy classmates. (AOL chat, 1997)

External link

• Starfleet Medical Academy at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works