Chen says the hardest fight is to get medical students and medical schools to go against every incentive in the current system. However, some strides have been made.

Abraham Flexner created the Flexner Report in the 1900s, giving rise to modern medical education. He went around to every medical school in the nation, eliminating proprietary schools and creating a biomedical model.

“Now, 100 years later, we have a lot more regulation in terms of schools but also in terms of the health care system,” says Chen.

Chen describes the University of New Mexico as “one of the real pioneers.” The university has been working between the medical school and state government to reform their whole medical education system. The goal is to meet the needs of their communities by giving the medical students exposure to a more community-based health care system and more innovative delivery models.

Chen believes more medical schools have to start teaching students how to be population and public health-minded. They need to be taught how to be team members and team leaders who make efforts to fix the system in order to maximize access, save costs and provide a better quality of care. “It’s a very different way of thinking about medical education, it’s a much higher order role,” says Chen.

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