"Beyond Flexner 2012: Social Mission in Medical Education"

On today's program, we speak by phone with Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at The George Washington University. Dr. Mullan is one of the co-chairs for a conference called "Beyond Flexner 2012: Social Mission in Medical Education," which will happen next week at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa (at 100 East Second Street), from May 15th through the 17th. The conference is being presented by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The George Kaiser Family Foundation, The George Washington University, The University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, and The University of Tulsa; it's meant to address an important new facet of today's medical education: social mission (as in, the ability of medical educators and education to address various healthcare inequities). Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan is a well-respected expert (and accomplished author) in this regard --- and, as he tells us on today's ST, the title for this conference refers to a study published in 1910 by the Carnegie Foundation, "Medical Education in the United States and Canada," which was conducted by one Abraham Flexner (and which brought landmark changes to how doctors were taught, trained, and accredited in North America). You can lean more about this conference here.