The report researched, written and published by Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) in 1910 for the Carnegie Foundation and entitled "Medical Education in the United States and Canada" is known today as the Flexner Report. It triggered much-needed reforms in the standards, organization, and curriculum of North American medical schools. At the time of the Flexner Report, many medical schools were proprietary schools operated more for profit than for education. Flexner proposed that medical schools operate instead in the German tradition of combining strong biomedical sciences with hands-on clinical training. The report caused many medical schools to close down. It remains one of the most important publications on medical education in the 20th century.

Abraham Flexner was not a doctor, but a secondary school teacher and principal for 19 years in Louisville, Kentucky. He did graduate work at Harvard University and the University of Berlin and joined the research staff of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In 1930, Flexner founded the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University and served as its first director. Albert Einstein joined the Institute in 1933. Flexner was one of the great educators of the 20th century. Modern medical education and medicine in North America owes a large debt to him.