The explosion of new digital learning technologies, the exponential growth of Internet usage and the advent of the World Wide Web are changing the face of medical education. There are also demands in medical education for greater globalization, for the development of common core curriculum standards, for improving access to training, for more flexible and student-centred training programs including programs with multi-professional elements and for maintaining quality while increasing student numbers and working within financial constraints. Hence enters Imhotep Virtual Medical School (IVMS), a high-quality education program embodying a hybrid model of a blended curriculum of innovative e-learning approaches and the best of traditional face-to-face teaching, as one response to these challenges.

IVMS is an undergraduate medical education research project exploring:

  Ø  Innovative thinking and approaches to the new learning technologies including Web 2.0 tools, e-learning repositories and virtual reality;

  Ø  New approaches to curriculum planning and mapping and advanced instructional design based on the use of 'reusable learning objects';

  Ø  A culturally competent curriculum with an  international perspective on medical education which takes into account the trend to globalization;

  Ø  A flexible curriculum which meets the needs of different students and has the potential of increasing access to medicine, particularly for United States racial/ethnic minorities and the poor.