This book assembles research findings accumulated over the span of half a century from the Jefferson Longitudinal Study (JLS). This study, initiated in 1970, is the most comprehensive, extensive, and uninterrupted longitudinal study of medical students and graduates maintained in a single medical school. The study was based on the conviction that medical schools have a social responsibility and ethical obligation to monitor the quality of their educational programs, to assess their educational outcomes, and to ensure that their educational goals have been achieved for the purposes of public...