The IOM Committee on the Roles of Academic Health Centers came together in 2001 to consider how AHC roles in education, research and patient care will need to adapt if they are to continue to meet the public’s needs in the coming decades. For this study, an AHC is the constellation of functions and organizations that are committed to improving the health of patients and populations through the integration of their roles in research, education, and patient care to produce the knowledge and evidence base that becomes the foundation for both treating illness and improving health.