Reviewing the present status of medical education in Japan, the author emphasized that the promotion of scientific research in medical education is most urgent in order to implement various proposals for the improvement of medical education which were made public in the past. In comparison of situations between the United States and Japan, a plan of establishing a national center for medical education research which has been recently proposed in the United States seems to be premature in Japan where interest in education research is not yet much heightened among medical educators. Instead, the establishment of an organizational unit specialized in medical education at individual institutions is more realistic and should be promoted nation-widely in Japan. In this unit, medical education research in each institution should be properly evaluated as an important factor to influence the personnel affairs including selection and promotion. A case of “Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care” in Thomas Jefferson University (Director: Prof. J. S. Gonnella) was introduced as a typical example of the individual unit.