Medical schools and the public interest: a conversation with Robert G. Petersdorf. Interview by John K. Iglehart

Prologue: Amidst the world of turbulent change that marks American medical care, one sphere stands out in its capacity to maintain its traditional ways: medical education. Ironically, its new national spokesman, Robert Petersdorf president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), has always been an outspoken voice for change in medical education. Petersdorfs expressions, regarded over the years as heretical by some of his academic medical colleagues, have not prevented him from becoming one of this community's most esteemed members. He has been awarded nine honorary degrees. Petersdorf also has enjoyed a varied career in academic medicine as a department chairman (internal medicine, 1964–1979) at the University of Washington's School of Medicine, as a president of a Harvard University teaching hospital (Brigham and Women's, 1979–1981), and as a vice-chancellor and medical school dean at the University of California, San Diego (1981–1986). Petersdorf was appointed president of the AAMC in 19...