Our Founders
Founded in 1972 in Copenhagen, we were set up to foster communication among the medical educators part of 350 medical schools across 31 countries in the European Region, and to support the organisation of national associations for medical education.
Our founding meeting took place in the regional office of the World Health Organisation in Denmark, by a group of professionals involved in medical education in their own countries as well as internationally. Our founders were:
- Henry Walton (University of Edinburgh, Editor of Medical Education, UK),
- G. Lotti (President, Italian Centre for Medical Education at the Villa Nobel, San Remo, Italy),
- Spyros Dioxades (President, Hellenic Society for Study of Medical Education, Athens, Greece),
- J-F. d’Ivernois (University of Bobigny, France),
- Gunnar Stroem (University of Uppsala, Sweden),
- Ole Harlem (President, Norwegian Medical Association, Oslo, Norway),
- J-H Segovia (President, Spanish Society of Medical Education, Madrid, Spain),
- Wojtczak (Director of Medical Education, Ministry of Health in Warsaw, Poland)
- Stephan Róssner (King Gustav V Institute, Stockholm, Sweden),
- Herman Tiddens (Nijmegen University, The Netherlands) and
- Hans Pauli (Institute for Research in Medical Education, University of Berne, Switzerland).
- Leo Kaprio, Regional Director, European Regional Office of WHO in Copenhagen
- Wieslaw Tysarowski, Chief of Medical Education and Research, European Regional Office of WHO in Copenhagen
- Dr T. Fulop representing the WHO Geneva headquarters.
AMEE through the years
Since our founding we have grown steadily in scope and size, as well as reputation. Originally with a core focus of hosting yearly conferences for the healthcare professions education community and its development, these conferences have visited locations across Europe and beyond, connecting with professionals, educators, practitioner and students, bringing them together into one central community with a shared purpose and goal. Our conferences have been the site of many important discussions and collaborative activities that paved the way for positive developments and changes within the theory and practise of healthcare professions education around the world.
Growing from that over the years AMEE began hosting online webinars, ESME programmes that focus on the critical needs of healthcare educators around the world, guides and publications that help teachers and staff with curriculum and practice, as well as the Medical Teacher journal, and the e-journal MedEdPublish. Alongside these, AMEE has become a central community of sharing, collaboration, innovation and support within the health professions education community. Professionals from a variety of disciplines and fields of healthcare practice come together to network, and develop our sector for a global benefit.
For more detail on AMEE’s history and development, see the informative paper by Andrzej Wojtczak, a Past President of AMEE: The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE): its conception and development (2010)