BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LCI

The transformative work to bring Learning Communities into medical education had its beginnings in 2004 as a result of the visionary work of Dr. Peter Densen at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. This effort was swiftly adopted and continued by Learning Communities luminaries Dr. Ron Arky at Harvard, Dr. Louise Arnold at the University Missouri at Kansas City, and Drs. Erika Goldstein and Marjorie Wenrich at the University of Washington. Under the leadership of Dr. Rob Shochet at Johns Hopkins the LCI Leadership Council was formed and in 2010 an effort was begun at our 7th Annual Meeting to develop more continuous collaboration and support in developing learning communities as applied to medical education. This effort culminated in 2013 when an exciting milestone was achieved—our years of meaningful collaboration was transformed into the Learning Communities Institute, Inc., and we were approved by the IRS for 501c3 non-profit status.

The Leadership Council and the LCI charter members feel passionately about learning communities and the ways they are contributing to more meaningful, relational environments in health care, whether in caring for patients, teaching, mentoring, research, or administration. However, we are hoping we aren’t alone in committing to this vision, and we’d truly like to invite you and the learning communities that you participate in to become members of the LCI. Would you consider joining us?

The LCI membership structure is detailed on the “Join the LCI” page. We hope that you’ll find this membership opportunity for you and/or your learning community to be welcoming, affordable and provide both the opportunity for support for home activities, as well as the chance to collaborate nationally and contribute to the growth of the LC movement in meaningful ways. With your support, the LCI will continue to grow its activities and programming in the months and years ahead.

Best wishes,
Rob Shochet, MD
Founding Chair, Learning Communities Institute, Inc.