Kenneth M. Ludmerer, internist and medical historian, spoke on "The Coming of the Second Revolution in Medical Education" at UTMB’s third Health Policy Forum of the academic year on Friday, April 14.

Ludmerer is author of the widely praised new book, Time to Heal: American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care (Oxford University Press, 1999) and is professor of medicine and professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis.

The forum took place at noon in the seventh-floor auditorium at Shriners Burns Hospital.

Writing last December 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine, that magazine’s long-time former editor Jerome P. Kassirer wrote in part:

In my opinion, Ludmerer… has written the classic work on medical education in the 20th century. Rather than describing the myriad educational programs or techniques set up by individual schools or training programs, he has placed medical students, residents, their teachers, and their institutions in the context of an evolving system of medical practice, medical research, and governmental involvement. From this perspective, he explains how the environment influences students. He explores their mentors and role models: are they caring, do they respect and listen to patients, do they pay attention to details? He expresses concern about the influence on students of the new terms introduced by the conversion of medical care into a marketplace commodity: market share, "throughput," and population health….

Dr. Ludmerer’s earlier books include Learning to Heal: The Development of American Medical Education and Genetics and American Society: A Historical Appraisal.