Liaison Committee on Medical Education

WHEN the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) was formed in 1942, a total of 67 recognized 4-year medical schools and ten 2-year (basic science) schools enrolled 22674 students. Today, one hundred twenty-five 4-year medical schools and one 2-year school enroll about 65000 students. The 50th anniversary of the LCME provides us with an occasion both to celebrate the major role the LCME has played in expanding medical education and maintaining its quality and to remind ourselves that the accrediting body faces challenges similar to those confronting the medical profession at large. Prior to 1942, the two sponsors of the LCME, the American Medical Association Council on Medical Education (AMA CME) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), had been evaluating medical schools independently since the beginning of the 20th century. The AAMC began inspecting schools as a membership requirement in 1903; the AMA CME first classified medical schools