About Us

The AAMC Research and Action Institute, a think tank of the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), tackles a number of the greatest challenges that affect U.S. health care.

Atul Grover, MD, PhD, discusses the Research and Action Institute's approach to health policy challenges and why incremental change is important.

The institute takes a novel and nonpartisan approach to policy challenges, redefines complex problems, and offers feasible solutions to improve U.S. health care among policymakers and the public.

For decades, the United States’ health care and regulatory decision-makers have turned to the AAMC for information, data, and guidance on pressing issues from health care access to social justice. This is especially true in times of public health crises such as Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Research and Action Institute brings policymakers clear, thoughtful insights on health policy issues that are derived from the collective thinking of national experts, researchers, and scholars. We help expand the reach of the AAMC to lead in areas beyond academic medicine.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the tremendous strength of our nation’s clinicians, scientists, and front-line workers, but it also exposed the U.S. health care system’s continuing challenges, including widespread health disparities, workforce shortages, barriers in access to care, rising health care costs, and a vulnerable public health infrastructure.

The institute regularly publishes health policy research in issue briefs and data snapshots.