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Status of immunology education and establishment of American Association of Immunologists-recommended immunology content guidelines for undergraduate medical education in the United States
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Status of immunology education and establishment of American Association of Immunologists-recommended immunology content guidelines for undergraduate medical education in the United States

Justin Andrews, Timothy J Bauler, Andrea Bottaro, Jennifer T Grier, Pooja Jain, Vijaya Knight, Michelle Swanson-Mungerson, Scott B Thompson, Yuan Zhao, Nicholas A Pullen, …
ImmunoHorizons, v 10(8), vlag041
04 Aug 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/immhor/vlag041
PMID: 42623698
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/immhor/vlag041View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Allergy and Immunology - education Curriculum Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods Education, Medical, Undergraduate - standards Guidelines as Topic Humans Schools, Medical Societies, Medical United States
Medical schools in the United States have varying curricular designs and limited instructional time, which challenge cohesive and comprehensive immunology coverage necessary for future physicians. To address this challenge, the American Association of Immunologists formed a Medical Education Immunology Curriculum Task Force, to generate recommendations for U.S. medical schools in the field of immunology. In June 2024, faculty from all U.S. medical schools were invited to participate in an initial research survey designed to assess the current field of immunology content taught to medical students. Approximately 30% of the invited participants responded, with 25% of respondents from DO programs and 75% from MD programs, which reflects the overall distribution of these schools nationally. This article shares the core content identified by the participating faculty, along with various demographic and opinion-based metrics. The Task Force developed specific learning objectives (LOs) and associated immune-relevant clinical conditions for each core area of content. These were then vetted by the broader medical immunology education community by presentation at an immunology-focused professional meeting and through a second feedback survey. The final recommended content includes foundational topics and associated LOs, as well as a list of key associated clinical conditions aligned with each foundational topic. These LOs have the advantage of being inserted throughout integrated curriculum and/or could be used in stand-alone immunology course blocks in the medical school curriculum. The inclusion of these LOs in a medical curriculum will sufficiently educate future physicians regarding the impact of the immune system on overall health and illness.

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