Millennium Conference
Current and Previous Millennium Conferences
The Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has sponsored nine working conferences since 2000 to tackle important topics in medical education, including the continuum of clinical education, patient safety, simulation in education, critical thinking, and high value care.
The format of these conferences, which includes a combination of plenary sessions, small inter-institutional working groups, and the development of plans by school teams, has proven particularly effective in tackling topics of national importance and has led to multiple peer-reviewed publications including consensus recommendations, multi-center collaborations, and research (see our impact statement).
The conference is a unique opportunity for multi-institutional brainstorming and networking. Additionally, the format has allowed leaders within the same institution, who do not normally have an opportunity to strategize about challenges in teaching, to conduct intra-institutional, long-term planning that crosses the continuum of medical education.
2023
Professional Identity Formation:
Evolving concepts of professionalism for physicians in a world with pandemics and social and political upheaval
May 2-4, 2023
Participating medical schools:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Morehouse School of Medicine; NYU Grossman School of Medicine; Penn State College of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; University of Illinois College of Medicine; University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine; Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
2019
Millennium Conference:
Self Directed Learning: Training Doctors for a Lifetime of Discovery
May 1-3, 2019
Sponsored by the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Millennium Conference 2019 will generate ideas for innovations for self-directed learning.
Participating medical schools:
Faculty of Medicine and Health Science of the University of Sherbrooke; Harvard Medical School; Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California; Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University; The George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences; University of Colorado School of Medicine; University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
2017
Millennium Conference:
From Student to Doctor: Aligning UME and GME Teaching to Ensure Success
May 3-5, 2017
Sponsored by the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Millennium Conference 2017 will generate ideas for innovations to bridge the pedagogic transition from UME to GME and align teaching approaches to cultivate active and lifelong learning.
Participating schools:
Harvard Medical School; Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine; McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; New York University School of Medicine; Ohio State University College of Medicine; Rush Medical College; University of Colorado School of Medicine; University of Illinois College of Medicine; University of Nebraska College of Medicine
2015
Millennium Conference on Transforming the Post-Clerkship Curriculum
May 6-8, 2015
Sponsored by the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Millennium Conference 2015 will generate ideas for innovations to redesign the post-clerkship curriculum in undergraduate medical education (UME) to better prepare graduates for residency and their subsequent careers as practicing physicians.
Participating schools:
Case Western Reserve University; Harvard Medical School; New York University School of Medicine; Southern Illinois University School of Medicine; University of Colorado School of Medicine; University of Illinois College of Medicine; The University of Iowa, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine; University of Massachusetts Medical School; Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
2013
Millennium Conference on Teaching Value-Added Care
May 8-10, 2013
Sponsored by the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Association of American Medical Colleges in partnership with the American College of Physicians, the Millennium Conference 2013 will generate strategies for teaching principles of value-added care to determine the best ways to train our future physicians to be judicious and evidence-based in their use of diagnostic tests and therapeutics.
Participating schools:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Dalhousie University; Drexel University College of Medicine; Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; Mayo Medical School; Penn State College of Medicine.
2011
Millennium Conference on Critical Thinking
May 19-21, 2011
Sponsored by the Shapiro Institute for Education and Research and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the focus of Millennium Conference 2011 was to discuss critical thinking and to consider pedagogical strategies for the delivery of curricula to promote this fundamental skill.
Participating schools:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Dalhousie University; Harvard Medical School; Georgia Health Sciences University; Hunter College of Nursing; Indiana University School of Medicine; New York University School of Medicine; Pennsylvania State College of Medicine; University of Massachusetts Medical School; Weill Cornell Medical College.
The proceedings have been submitted for consideration of publication. Three task forces on teaching, assessment, and milestones development are active.
- Huang G, Newman L, Schwartzstein, R. Critical Thinking in Health Professions Education: Summary and Consensus Statements of the Millennium Conference 2011. Teach Learn Med 2014; 26(1), 95-102.
- Papp K, Huang G, Lauzon Clabo L, Delva D, Fisher M, Konopasek L, Schwartzstein R, Gusic M. Milestones of critical thinking: a developmental model for medicine and nursing. Acad Med 2014 May; 89(5):715-720.
2009
Patient Safety - Implications for Teaching in the 21st Century
May 7 - May 9, 2009
This conference focused on acknowledging previous work done in patient safety curriculum development and generating concrete educational strategies to teach and evaluate the learning of patient safety throughout undergraduate and graduate medical education.
Participating medical schools:
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Drexel University College of Medicine; Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine; Michigan State University College of Human Medicine; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Ohio State University College of Medicine; Tufts University School of Medicine; University of Kentucky College of Medicine; University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
- Huang G, Newman L, Tess A, Schwartzstein R. Teaching patient safety: conference proceedings and consensus statements of the Millennium Conference 2009. Teach Learn Med 2011 Apr;23(2):172-8.
2007
A Collaborative Approach to Educational Research
May 3 - May 6, 2007
Millennium Conference 2007 focused on an in-depth discussion of educational research and on the key objectives of educational research and the necessary infrastructure that needs to be developed locally, regionally, and nationally to support multi-institutional collaborative projects.
Participating medical schools:
Case Western University School of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; Mayo Medical School; Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine; New York University School of Medicine; Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine; Southern Illinois University School of Medicine; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences - F.E. Hebert School of Medicine; and University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
- Huang G, Newman L, Anderson M, Schwartzstein R. Conference proceedings and consensus statements of the Millennium Conference 2007: a collaborative approach to educational research. Teach Learn Med 2010;22:50-55.
- Gruppen LD. Improving medical education research. Teach Learn Med. 2007 Fall;19(4):331-5.
- Cook DA, Andriole DA, Durning SJ, Roberts NK, Triola MM. Longitudinal research databases in medical education: facilitating the study of educational outcomes over time and across institutions. Acad Med. 2010 Aug;85(8):1340-6.
- Fincher RE, White CB, Huang G, Schwartzstein R. Toward hypothesis-driven medical education research: task force report from the 2007 Millennium Conference on educational research. Acad Med 2010;85:821-828.
- Johansson AC, Durning SJ, Gruppen LD, Olson ME, Schwartzstein RM, Higgins PA. Medical education research and the institutional review board: Re-examining the process. Acad Med 2011 Jul;86(7):809-17.
2005
Medical Simulation - Theory and Practice
April 28 - May 1, 2005
Millennium Conference 2005 examined the theory underlying the use of simulation technology in medical education and practical issues associated with the design and implementation of simulation curricula.
Participating medical schools:
Baylor College Of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; Indiana University College of Medicine; New York University School of Medicine; Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine; Stanford University School of Medicine; University of Louisville School of Medicine; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and University of South Florida College of Medicine.
- Huang G, Gordon J, Schwartzstein R. Millennium Conference 2005 on Medical Simulation: a summary report. Simul Healthc 2007 Summer;2(2):88-95.
2003
The Continuum of Clinical Training in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education
May 1 - May 4, 2003
At Millennium Conference III, discussion focused on the continuum of clinical training in both undergraduate and graduate medical education.
Participating medical schools:
Baylor College of Medicine; Drexel University College of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; Indiana University School of Medicine; Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine; University of Puerto Rico Medical School; and University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
2002 and 2001
The Clinical Education of Medical Students (I and II)
April 26 - April 28, 2002 and April 28 - May 1, 2001
For the first two Millennium Conferences, plenary sessions and inter-institutional breakout groups discussed a series of questions falling under the following categories: (1) What to teach? (2) How to teach? (3) Who teaches?
Participating medical schools (2002):
Dartmouth Medical School; Indiana University School of Medicine; Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine; New York University School of Medicine; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; State University of New York Upstate Medical University College of Medicine; University of Michigan Medical School; and University of Nebraska College of Medicine. A representative from each of the 2001 participating medical schools returned for this conference as well.
Participating medical schools (2001):
Baylor College of Medicine; Duke University School of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; Mayo Medical School; MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine; Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Francisco; University of Iowa College of Medicine; and University of Rochester School of Medicine.