As a college student, I did my "year" of organic chemistry during summer term in between freshman and sophomore years. That was a smart move for me, because it let me concentrate entirely on "Orgo" and nothing else. I made a notebook of different reactions concepts during the course, which helped me grasp the concepts, and I found that being a chess player was helpful figuring out to synthesize a target molecule during tests. My mother was a chemistry major, and she taught chemistry in high school; so, doing well in any chemistry class was a priority for me. I went on to complete a combined B.S.-M.S. in Biochemistry in 4 years, and later went to medical school.

The new MCAT requirements, which add Biochemistry, Psychology, Sociology, along with general statistics to other scientific prerequisites have shifted some of the first year courses to the undergraduate course load. If you are going to do clinical medicine, I can understand some physicians frustration with doing organic chemistry, but knowing organic chemistry is also learning experience in understanding a scientific vocabulary of different pharmaceutical compounds. I think most physicians should learn generic drug names rather than trade names, but most physicians never take the time to understand a drug's chemical structure. If you are a research physician in academia, one can use basic science knowledge regularly, since you are in uncharted territory. Most new pharmaceutical compounds are going to be biomolecules rather than organic chemicals synthesized in the lab.

I have taken some of the online courses available through edX and Coursera, which was revealing to me in what has changed in General Chemistry and Physical Chemistry, but Organic Chemistry has plateaued somewhat in new knowledge. Organic Chemistry lab has changed with the use of NMR and other spectroscopy methods for identifying unknowns rather the qualitative tests you would find in Shriner-Fuson.

Although it may seem strange, I think that some form of computer/IT literacy is going to become a survival skill in medicine, if only for documentation. I think taking typing in high school has helped me as much as any other course in college during my clinical career. Should a physician has some form of web programming literacy for the future as part of his communication skills. That may be as valuable as a fluency in organic chemistry or even biochemistry.

Now we have a Doctor Who, who has been a real Doctor Fan for a long time! Best Wishes to all Whovians!

I must sincerely disagree with Larry Page on the subject of privacy of medical records. There are many medical conditions, that can be compromising or embarrassing for a patient. If someone has a congenital condition that affect their behavioral or physical condition, that is something they might want to manage privately for their own protection. Reproductive issues are very private issues, for obvious reasons. If someone has a undiagnosed condition that affects their ability to work or to engage in a social life, they deserve privacy while they work with a health provider to figure things out. I find Mr. Page's feelings very inconsiderate to other people. I respect Mr. Page's courage in dealing with his current vocal cord paralysis, which has been ongoing for sometime, and he has taken a very blunt way of dealing with it. Not everyone's condition affords them such candor.

If you check SEC company executive stock records, one can find that Scott Forstall has sold off his Apple Stock options earlier this year, in preparation for a possible departure. His departure has actually been planned for several weeks, but was not announced until today along with the departure of John Browett, who was Sr. VP for Retails operations for Apple.

The current executive reorganization of Mr. Forstall's duties have been spread over several senior Apple executives, distributing responsibilities according to their current function. Read the press release to see the respective changes.

Some people have speculated that Scott Forstall might be the ultimate successor to Steve Jobs, since he came with Steve from NeXT computer back to Apple in 1997. He has been involved in the development of Mac OS X, including heading the Leopard OS development and development of the Aqua user interface in OS X, along with leading the development of iPhone and later iOS system software since 2004.

I don't know what Scott Forstall plans to do, but there is some speculation that he might be involved a project with a former Apple engineer. Needless to say, he probably has a non-compete clause with Apple, he will have respect for a while given his critical involvement with key Apple products like the iPhone, iPad and iOS system software.

I would not be surprised to see Scott come back to Apple sometime in the future, but he has earned a well-earned sabbatical given his recent efforts.