The Institute for Innovations in Medical Education at NYU Langone drives world-class innovations in teaching, learning, evaluation, and assessment at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education levels.

We serve as a laboratory for new educational models and combine the science of learning with technology and informatics-based solutions to support curricular transformation; self-directed, individualized learner progression; and continuous quality improvement.

Our Goals

Our goals are as follows:

• to discover, develop, and validate innovative and sustainable models for technology-enhanced teaching, learning, evaluation, and assessment across the medical education continuum
• to encourage insight, innovation, and research in medical education by applying advanced analytics to the data collected from our educational and clinical missions
• to promote academic collaborations that advance the field of medical education; optimize the learning environment; and support improved outcomes in education, health, and medicine

Our History

NYU Grossman School of Medicine was an early advocate of the personal computer for medical education. In 1987, six medical students and Martin Nachbar, MD (1937–2015) launched the Hippocrates Project, designed to support learning through the application of computer technologies, including interactive multimedia resources, to the curriculum in disciplines such as anatomy, histology, microbiology, neuroanatomy, and pathology. The project pioneered the use of computers and communication technologies, including simulation, three-dimensional animation, modeling, and online learning, in medical education.

The project expanded in 1997 to become the Educational Computing Division, which encompassed all undergraduate medical education programs. This division continued to create educational multimedia materials, including interactive physiologic simulations, and a computing infrastructure for providing email and computerized exam grading. The division offered instructors statistical reports and automated course survey results.

In 1998, a new unit called Academic Computing began developing databases for clinical research and mobile platforms. In 2001, NYU School of Medicine issued a mandate to design and develop a core curriculum for surgery, and Academic Computing split into Advanced Educational Systems and the Research Computing Resource, a molecular biology research resource. These two units were responsible for creating new formats for hypermedia instruction and developing an information technology infrastructure to use these instructional materials.

In 2007, the renamed Division of Educational Informatics took on the task of creating several new technologies and online learning resources currently in use by health professions schools across the country. These include the Virtual Microscope; the Web Initiative for Surgical Education Modules, or WISE-MD; and Biodigital Human.

In 2013, NYU Langone established the Institute for Innovations in Medical Education to develop, validate, and support teaching and learning innovations along the continuum of medical education. Learn more about our programs and divisions and research and scholarship, and the informatics-driven transformation occurring at the local and national levels.