Background: Research in medical education is stymied by a variety of methodological, logistical, and institutional challenges. Multicenter collaboration may advance the current state of medical education research by increasing subject sample size, harnessing the power of collective expertise, and garnering visibility for issues of national importance.
Summary: We convened the "Millennium Conference 2007: A Collaborative Approach to Educational Research" in May 2007 to consider the role of national initiatives in addressing challenges in educational research. We selected 9 medical schools through a competitive application process to participate as school teams. We led participants through structured discussions about the challenges of educational research and the opportunities offered through national collaboratives. School teams also met to refine their current local educational research initiatives.
Conclusions: A group of committed stakeholders met to consider a national educational research agenda. The recommendations from this conference proceed from consensus reached by the participants.