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The broad view of health espoused by the World Health Organization is now generally accepted by medical educators. Implicit in the new paradigm is a recognition of multiple determinants of health and of shifting divisions of professional responsibilities among providers. As a consequence, the importance of social and behavioural science education as a foundation to medical training is increasingly appreciated. At the same time medical programmes are under pressure to contend with the explosion of knowledge in basic biomedical and life sciences and with technological innovation. Curricula are being submerged in facts, causing medical schools to look for innovative teaching models that feature more flexible approaches to the diverse body of knowledge supporting professional practice. Independent learning methods are being explored and revised teaching programs are being organized around coordinating themes, such as aging, human development and environmental health. Future programmes must be designed to encourage multiprofessional approaches while fostering awareness of the important interplay between health care (both curative and preventive) and social/behavioural science. Within the curriculum students should be offered options that include sociology, child growth and development, gerontology, medical anthropology, psychology, medical geography, health economics, political science and related subthemes. More important than the inclusion of any specific discipline is the creation of an environment in which future physicians may be exposed to critical thinking across a wide range of themes that characterize the social and cultural context for medical practice. Such enquiry is also likely to drive a closer relationship between medical schools and their parent universities within which the social science expertize resides.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)