Ever wonder why we have "regular medicine" and "alternative medicine?" One reason is that in 1910, the Carnegie Foundation sponsored a report by Abraham Flexner that resulted in the closure of medical schools incorporating homeopathy, herbalism, and other non-pharmaceutical measures. Mark Hiatt, MD, writes that his report was anything but the dispassionate, evidence-based evaluation that it was touted to be. Mr Flexner "evaluated" 149 medical institutions in eight months, returning frequently to New York City to write up his notes. Leave out weekends and travel time and he had less than one day per medical school! Nor was Mr Flexner a physician or medical educator. He was at pains the rest of his life to justify the report that directed American medicine into the pharmaceutical path it still largely follows.
Dr Hiatt tells this fascinating story in the Winter 1999 issue of the Pharos. (This article is copyright 1999 by the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, reprinted by permission from The Pharos, Volume 62, number 1.)
Abraham Flexner, to his credit, did concern himself with medical education the rest of his life. He had many criticisms of the changes that occurred in medical education as a result of his report, as you can read in this review of his influence on U.S. medical education.