ABSTRACT
Introduction At the turn of the century, Abraham Flexner pointed out that a medical education should be available to qualified candidates regardless of their socioeconomic background. However, he admitted that in the 1900s few opportunities were available for what he referred to as the “poor boy” [1]. Medicine at that time was practiced largely by a small segment of society who viewed medicine as a calling as much as a profession or a business. Many, if not most, of the faculty who taught in the nonproprietary medical schools came from the wealthier families
of the time. Indeed, in the early parts of the twentieth century, many clinical teachers received little or no reimbursement for their efforts.
