Academic medicine exists to create a better future for humanity. Academic health systems conduct work and services that improve the health of people and communities. Medical school faculty fulfill these responsibilities through effort in five interdependent realms: advancing science, engaging in clinical innovation and service, fostering multidisciplinary education, collaborating to address societal needs, and nurturing leadership and professionalism, predicated on excellence, inclusiveness, and non-discrimination. Faculty investigators seek new knowledge to help understand the biological basis of health and disease as well as the psychological, cultural, and social determinants of health. Academic clinicians apply scientific evidence to help individual patients, to establish better practices, and to create effective systems of care for entire populations.