
Scaling Medical Education: Can New Schools Solve America's Doctor Shortage?
Open Events
Friday, January 23, 2026
12 - 1 p.m. ET
Webinar
With physician shortages in the US, particularly in primary care and in underserved areas, this panel will explore the extent to which new medical schools may be effective or stymied in resolving shortages.
Panelists

Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D. is dean of Charles Drew College of Medicine and the founding dean of its new MD degree program, the 157th in the United States and the 4th at a historically Black university. In her 7-year tenure at CDU, she built the team and led the planning, faculty development, and fundraising required to start the program, fulfilling a 57-year-old CDU dream to have its own medical school. Before joining CDU, Dr. Prothrow-Stith was a principal at Spencer Stuart and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Public Health Practice and Associate Dean for Diversity. In 1987, Governor Michael Dukakis appointed her Commissioner of Public Health for Massachusetts.

Robert A. Cain DO, FACOI, FAODME is President & Chief Executive Officer, American Association of Osteopathic Colleges , appointed in 2019. He previously served as the Associate Dean for Clinical Education at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM). As part of his duties, Dr. Cain functioned as the Chief Academic Officer for the Ohio Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE), a statewide medical education consortium. Dr. Cain was inducted into the AOGME Collegium of Fellows in 2018 and has received many other awards for his contributions to osteopathic medical education,
Katherine (Kate) McOwen, PhD, MSEd is the Senior Director of Medical Education Initiatives at the AAMC. In her role she works with educational and administrative leaders, faculty, staff, and students from our nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals on programs supporting their professional growth and development. Before working with the AAMC, she directed a bi-directional, cross-continuum evaluation of faculty, courses, programs, and learners at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Moderator

Jodi Segal, MD, MPH
Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
This event is part of a larger series on the 'Conversations on the Business of Health,' which will be one-hour webinars that will engage leaders in business and academia. We will explore questions such as: Should companies invest in their employees’ health? Will artificial intelligence actually advance health? How can business offer healthcare in novel settings?