In our study of medicine, we have sought to understand the challenges facing medicine today and the ways in which high achieving physicians have coped while maintaining their commitment to doing good work. We explored the ways in which doctors conceive of and engage in their work amid the tectonic shifts taking place with respect to the economics of health care and emerging technologies.

This project consisted of three phases:

• In phase one (1999-2000), we interviewed 20 well-established physicians in academic medical centers, including clinical and research professors, exploring their views on broad trends affecting their domain. Among the tracks examined were emerging technologies, the increasing commodification of medicine, and changes in doctor-patient relationships.

• In phase two (2003), we examined medical education and, more specifically, the ways in which behaviors and attitudes grouped under the rubric “professionalism” were transmitted to young medical professionals in training. Thirty-five faculty members and physicians from five outstanding medical schools participated in this phase of the study.

• In the third and largest phase of the medicine study (2005 – 2006), we conducted interviews with approximately 50 internists, OB/GYN’s, and cardiothoracic surgeons from Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont, who were nominated by

their peers for their commitment to doing good work. We explored these specialties because they are embattled in distinct ways due to range of factors, including financial pressures from insurers, malpractice threats, technological advances, and the changing demographics of medical school graduates.