Lost gold: the decline of the academic mission in US medical schools

Medical education needs to be redesigned so that it is an equally shared responsibility of clinicians and physician-scientists, with greatly enhanced opportunities for student-faculty bonding. Traditional departments and divisions must be restructured to provide more thoughtful and effective support for academic clinicians and physician-scientists. Existing infrastructure should be improved so that in exchange for the commitment of time and effort for teaching, the faculty members receive tangible services from their institutions (e.g., information technology that actually saves time, state-of-the art teaching aids that are user friendly, streamlined administrative oversight to avoid duplicate submissions to regulatory offices, more helpful grant management and accounting).