The American Medical Association (AMA) announced on January 13 that 11 teams from over 80 institutions will share $12 million in grants to help modernize physician education.
Each selected grant team will receive $1.1 million over four years, funded through the Transforming Lifelong Learning Through Precision Education Grant Program.
Grantees spanning medical schools, residency programs, health systems, and specialty societies across the country include Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine, Mount Sinai Morningside/West, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (in collaboration with Arizona State University John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering), University of Hawaii – John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
“Technology and AI have the potential to reshape how physicians learn, practice, and care for their patients, and these grants will help bring that potential to life,” said AMA CEO John Whyte.
Whyte said the rise of new tools gives an opportunity to build more engaging, more adaptable, and better learning environments aligned with the realities of practicing medicine. “Our goal is to ensure that innovation strengthens the physician experience and creates a future where every physician is fully equipped to meet the needs of patients.”
Precision education, as defined by AMA, leverages data and technology, including augmented intelligence (AI), to personalize learning for each individual, ensuring the right education reaches the right learner at the right time. These systems enable medical students, residents, and practicing physicians to concentrate on developing the skills and competencies most essential for accurate diagnosis, effective communication, and patient care.
AMA chief academic officer Sanjay Desai told Fierce Healthcare that supporting innovation is a key component of the AMA’s work, and that the current education model is still burdened by “significant inefficiencies.” He stressed that the utilization of data and AI can “really transform the way we educate physicians.”
“The opportunity is to leverage this data that exists, but in the current systems, is unable to be aggregated and analyzed in a way that’s effective for learning,” Desai said. “This is what we consider to be the future of lifelong learning.”
The grantees are set to take part in a learning collaborative to share best practices for implementation, supporting the AMA’s goal of establishing interoperability standards to reduce barriers when projects are repurposed and scaled to other organizations.
This marks the AMA’s third phase of grant funding, with awards spanning the continuum of learning, from medical students to residents to practicing physicians.