History
In the fall of 2005, the American Medical Association announced a competitive request for applications (RFA) for one year planning grants. Grant funds would be used to convene meetings to evaluate the feasibility for establishing a multi-site research and learning collaborative in medical education.
Applicants were also encouraged to submit jointly (i.e., all the medical schools in given city would be part of one application).
53 applications were received in response to the RFA, and 16 teams were awarded with planning grants.
Of the 16 teams awarded planning grants, 5 were joint applications which resulted in a total of 27 medical schools represented by the awardees.
Two national and three regional planning meetings were held in 2006.
Based on progress made during the planning year, all 16 teams agreed to move ahead to officially establish the research and learning collaborative, known as ISTEP, in February 2007.
An ISTEP steering group with representation from each team was formed, as well as a 5-member executive committee.
The executive committee is currently chaired by Paul Lanken, MD from the University of Pennsylvania and Patricia Carney, PhD from the Oregon Health & Sciences University.
