CHICAGO — Fresh off the heels of announcing a major expansion to its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative aimed at transforming medical education, the American Medical Association (AMA) today kicked off ChangeMedEd 2015—bringing together hundreds of the world’s most notable leaders and innovators in medical education to further generate new ideas to reimagine the medical school of the future.

“We’ve made notable progress over the past two years to reshape medical education so that the way physicians are trained meets the needs of patients in the 21st century and the advancements in medical science and in the delivery of care,” said AMA President Steven J. Stack. “By growing the community of innovation that we’ve cultivated among some of the nation’s leading medical schools, we’re one step closer to closing the gaps that currently exist between the way physicians are educated and how health care will be delivered in our rapidly changing health care environment.” 

The AMA launched its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative nearly two years ago—providing $11 million in grants to fund major innovations at 11 of the nation’s leading medical schools. Together, these schools formed a consortium that shares best practices with a goal of widely disseminating the new and innovative curricula being developed to medical schools across the country. In August, the AMA announced that it will provide $1.5 million over the next three years to fund up to 20 additional schools to join the consortium and work toward a significant redesign of undergraduate medical education that better aligns with our health care system.

“We’re focused on making significant changes to our medical education system that will incorporate the newest technologies, health care reforms and scientific discoveries that continue to alter what physicians will need to know to practice in the 21st century health care system,” said AMA Group Vice President for Medical Education Susan E. Skochelak, M.D. “Bringing together some of the brightest minds in medical education and working with even more schools and students, we know that we can quickly build upon the innovative curriculum changes being made by our consortium and make a real difference in the way our future physicians are being trained.”

Some of the innovative grant projects underway include models for competency-based student progression, programs that allow medical students to be totally immersed within the health care system from day one of medical school, training in physician leadership, education in team care skills, and increased use of technology to teach electronic health record and patient outcomes skills.

During the three-day ChangeMedEd 2015 conference in Chicago, attendees will not only learn more about the innovative grant projects underway but the meeting will also feature interactive presentations on innovative medical education concepts from three Chicago-based schools, including the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Delivering a powerhouse keynote address, award-winning innovator Mick Ebeling, founder of Not Impossible Labs, kicked off the event with an exciting look at his work developing creative solutions to address serious health challenges and the possibilities that lie ahead for innovation in medical education.

Also, during the meeting, the AMA invited more medical students to share their ideas as part of a special Innovation Award Challenge that requires students to form teams of two to four to address the question: “How would you turn medical education on its head?” For more information about the award competition, visit www.changemeded.org.

“We expect to see the work of the consortium schools progress exponentially over the next five years,” said Dr. Stack. “This will have a major impact on not only improving physician satisfaction and practice sustainability but it will also improve health outcomes and create a healthier America for all.”