The 1910 Flexner Report (click on the link above) reformed medical education in the US and set the stage for the massive biomedical enterprises we call academic medical centers today. Today we are in need of a new reform effort in medical education for the simple reason that everything has changed: from the business model all the way to the emerging consensus regarding evidenced-based practice, medical education and the biomedical research enterprise (outside the federal government and big pharma)are largely in a different paradigm from the one created by the Flexner Report nearly a century ago.
The American Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is the organization that is central to the future of US Medical Schools. But it represents multiple strong constituencies and therefore tends to evolve policies based on consensus.
At the same time, some innovative medical schools are not waiting to reform. One of the leaders is Case Western Reserve with its new curriculum.
It seems to me that a new Flexner report is sorely needed: one that takes into account the current state of the playing field in medical education and the biomedical research that is intrinsic to the enterprise.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 