History

The idea of establishing a separate foundation developed from ECFMG’s long-standing commitment to promoting excellence in international medical education. This commitment began with ECFMG ’s first faculty exchange program in 1983. In the years that followed, ECFMG increased resources for exchange programs, introduced consultation services, and pursued a number of research initiatives related to international medical schools and their graduates. However, ECFMG’s Board of Trustees believed that more could be accomplished by a separate organization with dedicated resources focused on the international health professions community.

In July 2000, the ECFMG Board of Trustees approved a resolution to establish an ECFMG foundation, and FAIMER was incorporated as a nonprofit foundation of ECFMG in September of that year. Beginning in 2001, FAIMER’s Directors initiated strategic planning to define the Foundation’s focus and priorities. These planning sessions culminated in 2004 with the adoption of a formal strategic plan that identified the Foundation’s areas of thematic and geographic focus, as well as short- and long-term goals for each area of activity. A number of key staff appointments and reorganization of FAIMER’s Board, both accomplished in 2004, ensured the expertise and oversight required to support the activities outlined in the plan.

In keeping with its goal of developing resources on medical education worldwide, FAIMER introduced the International Medical Education Directory (IMED) in 2002. Two years later, FAIMER approved the development of another resource, the Directory of Organizations that Recognize/Accredit Medical Schools. In 2014, FAIMER and the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) announced the launch of the World Directory of Medical Schools . This resource is the result of an agreement to merge the organizations’ respective directories—FAIMER’s IMED and WFME’s Avicenna Directory—to produce a single comprehensive resource on undergraduate medical education worldwide.

To support health professions educators, FAIMER established the FAIMER Institute fellowship program in 2001. Since then, FAIMER has expanded its educational offerings for the world’s health professions educators, including the addition of 10 FAIMER Regional Institutes throughout the world. FAIMER’s educational programs have graduated more than 2,000 alumni from 55 countries.

In 2021, FAIMER marked a significant milestone by celebrating its 20th anniversary with a virtual conference. This event underscored FAIMER’s commitment to expanding programmatic offerings to the global network of current and graduated Fellows, including the introduction of the annual FAIMER Global Forum and FAIMER Connect , an online hub created specifically for the FAIMER Global community. The year 2021 also saw the launch of FAIMER’s competency-based education programs—now offered in India as the International FAIMER Competency-based Education (I-FACE) and the Regional FAIMER Competency-based Education (R-FACE). The programming provides professional development for global health professions educators, specifically faculty members of the FAIMER Regional Institutes. The curriculum trains participants to implement and evaluate competency-based education, with I-FACE also preparing faculty to teach and evaluate this education at their Regional Institutes.

FAIMER and ECFMG announced the creation of Intealth in 2021. Intealth reflects the integration of their operations and the enhanced potential it offers to support the health professions worldwide. This identity marks the success of a multi-year business transformation effort on the part of FAIMER and ECFMG—a strategic process to ensure their continued growth and ability to meet the needs of global stakeholders. As divisions of Intealth, FAIMER and ECFMG share a common vision and pursue complementary missions. Read more about our Vision, Missions & Values .