Building Our Future Together: Advancing Research and Scholarship in Academic Medicine

Academic medicine research and scholarship are foundational to advancing educational innovation and evidence-based practices.

The AAMC is furthering its commitment to academic medicine research and scholarship through the development of a centralized, enhanced portfolio of initiatives designed to strengthen the essential role of scholars and scholarship in academic medicine by providing high-quality resources, targeted development, and meaningful engagement opportunities at every career level.

This evolving portfolio includes a reimagining of the Research in Medical Education (RIME) program; the Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) program; medical education programming at Learn Serve Lead: The AAMC Annual Meeting; strategic relationships with the AAMC’s peer-reviewed journals, Academic Medicine and MedEdPORTAL; scholar development pathways; and future regional scholarship meetings. Together, these efforts are intended to create a more integrated infrastructure to support research and scholarship across disciplines and career stages.

Community input is essential to advancing these efforts. See “Opportunities for Community Feedback” below to add your perspective to the discussion.

The AAMC RIME program has advanced medical education research and scholarship through the presentation of accepted manuscripts at Learn Serve Lead: The AAMC Annual Meeting and their publication in the journal Academic Medicine.

As part of broader efforts to strengthen support for scholarship across academic medicine, the AAMC is reimagining the RIME program to create a more inclusive, accessible, and developmentally supportive experience for medical education scholars and researchers while maintaining the program’s longstanding commitment to excellence, connection, and growth.

Key priorities for the reimagined program include:

• Enhancing support for new and emerging researchers and scholars in academic medicine (i.e., scholars conducting research for and about selecting, training, assessing, and supporting medical students and physicians).
• Fostering a more developmentally supportive experience for researchers and scholars in academic medicine at all stages of development.
• Expanding access to high-quality professional development for authors and reviewers.

To allow time for community engagement and redesign, the traditional RIME call for papers will pause during the reimagining period and will not be issued in summer 2026.

The AAMC is exploring the development of a new series of regional scholarship meetings to support researchers and scholars across developmental stages — from novice to expert — who are conducting scholarly inquiry or seeking to develop research skills.

These meetings will create accessible, collaborative spaces where faculty, staff, and learners at every career stage can share their scholarly work, build regional connections, and advance academic excellence.

The goals of this new model are to:

• Expand and connect the scholarly community.
• Enhance scholarly capacity and impact.
• Create clearer entry points and progression opportunities for emerging researchers and scholars.
• Support the evidence-based advancement of academic medicine.

The first meetings are anticipated for winter/summer 2028. Additional information about timelines, planning processes, and opportunities for involvement will be shared as details are finalized.

Input from the academic medicine community is central to informing the AAMC’s efforts to support research and scholarship across disciplines and career stages. Please provide feedback by completing the following survey by July 27.

Additional feedback or questions? Email: scholarlyprograms@aamc.org.