AMA marks milestone in efforts to create the med school of the future

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The American Medical Association (AMA) is marking five years of progress in its ongoing work to develop bold, innovative ways to improve physician training that can be implemented across medical education. The AMA, along with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, convened its 32 school Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium in Providence, R.I., this week to build on efforts underway to ensure future physicians across the country are prepared to care for patients in the changing health care landscape.

Brown’s Medical School is among this select group of schools that developed a new curriculum as part of the AMA’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium to reshape medical education nationwide. Through the $1 million grant it received in 2013 to work with the Consortium, Brown created a first-in-the-nation program designed to train physicians who, with a focus on population and public health, can be future leaders in community-based primary care at the local, state or national level. This is an important innovation given that the modern health system will require physicians to think beyond caring for just an individual’s health and take into account the health of a population to improve patient safety and health care quality.