First encounters with the inner brain. Duke School of Medicine, June 24, 2019. Neurologist Leonard White says today is a big day for the 129 first-year medical students in his Brain and Behavior class. In their first six months of medical school, the students have mostly examined the brain from the outside. They’ve run their fingers over its wrinkled walnut-like surface and traced the deep fissures that separate its lobes. But now, these future medical doctors will peer inside and get a firsthand glimpse of what lies beneath the surface.