During the COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals adapted, innovated, and accelerated in order to meet the needs of students, patients, and the community. To examine and learn from these experiences, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education convened a series of workshops, the first of which was a one-day virtual workshop on December 3, 2020.

The first workshop explored lessons learned in the grand challenges facing health professions education (HPE) stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and how those positive and negative experiences might inform development of sustainable improvements in the value, effectiveness, and impact of HPE. Educators, students, administrators, and health professionals shared ideas, stories, and data in an effort to discuss the future of HPE by learning from past experiences. Topics included: evaluation of online education; innovations in interprofessional education and learning opportunities within the social determinants of health and mental health; effects on preclinical and clinical education; regulatory and accreditation changes affecting HPE; and stress and workload on students and faculty. This publication summarizes the presentations and panel discussions from the workshop.