The Medical Education Number of JAMA

Antedating the formation of the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Education and Hospitals by three years, The Journal published in 1901 an issue for the first time summarizing educational statistics from the medical schools and licensing data from the state medical licensing boards. Throughout the years the information collected by the AMA for the Medical Education in the United States Number has led to many important developments in medical education. Two examples immediately come to mind: One, the medical schools submitted names and addresses of their students, which eventually led to the development of the American Medical Directory and also served as the basis for the accumulation of the master file of Physicians Biographical Records, the most complete health manpower data file in existence. A second example is the listing in the early education issues of the statistics of students passing and failing, submitted by each of the medical