Michael Whitcomb, MD received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University (1961) and his MD from the University of Cincinnati (1965). He completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Walter Reed General Hospital. He served as chief of the pulmonary disease services at Tripler Army Hospital and Walter Reed General Hospital before leaving the Army Medical Corps with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1974. From 1974 to 1977 he was a member of the Pulmonary Disease Division at The Ohio State University. In 1981 he was appointed Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and Medical Director of the University Hospitals. During the academic year 1984-85 Dr. Whitcomb was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow of the Institute of Medicine (Congressional Fellowship Program). He subsequently served as Assistant Vice President for Health Services at The Ohio State University (1985-85), and as Dean of the schools of medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia (1986-88) and the University of Washington (1988-90). In 1992, he returned to Ohio State to establish the university’s Center for Health Policy Studies. In 1994, he moved to the American Medical Association as Director of the Division of Graduate Medical Education; he assumed his current position at the Association of American Medical Colleges on March 1, 1995.

During the last ten years, Dr. Whitcomb has served as a member of the Council on Graduate Medical Education (1986-89) and as a consultant and advisor on physician workforce issues to a number of state and federal agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). He has also authored of a number of papers and reports addressing topics related to graduate medical education and the physician workforce.