Beyond Flexner: Social mission in medical education

Medical schools and teaching hospitals generally cite teaching, service and research as their core contributions. The scope of health disparities in our communities, however, suggests another vital role of teaching institutions can play social mission. What priority do our teaching institutions give to community engagement, to health disparities reduction, to the promotion of diversity, to teaching the social determinates of health? Where do these topics stand in the curriculum, admissions policy, research agenda, and business plan of medical schools and their associated hospitals? Should social mission not be the fourth leg on the stool of academic medicine?

Speaker:
Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D.
Professor, Health Policy
George Washington University