Medical education is concerned with the future, that is, the production of physicians for the future. The role of the medical practitioner will depend upon the medical needs of the community he is to serve. An implicit obligation of medical educators is to define these needs, and act accordingly. The Needs of the Public.— This is a period of rapid social change. Traditional virtues and standards of conduct are being discarded. Society is becoming more diversified and complex, more interrelated and interdependent. Our population is expanding. We live longer, have a higher standard of living, and enjoy more leisure. The work we do is more productive and yet easier. All of this will affect medical practice of the future, but even more significant are the changes occurring in the American family. Marriage was never more popular, nor held in higher esteem by both men and women. An expression of this