The Department of Medical Education (DME) at the University of Illinois at Chicago is the oldest continuously operating medical education department in the world. Founded in 1958 by George Miller and Christine McGuire, the Department's faculty, fellows, and students have been at the forefront of the practice and study of medical education. DME is a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for health professions education, and has achieved international renown. This volume, commemorating the 50th anniversary of DME, collects papers representing major aspects of the work of the Department's faculty in 2009, along with a tribute to the founders and an original history of the Department's first fifty years.