约翰·霍普金斯大学医学院在1893年成立之初就建立了现代医学教育标准，其重点是学习，研究和患者护理的相互关系。基于我们对人类基因组的不断扩展的理解，当前的约翰·霍普金斯基因向社会课程通过在影响患者的多种因素的基础上提出了一种新的健康和疾病模型，标志着医学研究中的另一次地震转变。疾病的表现，从一端的细胞水平和遗传学到另一端的行为，环境和社会影响。该课程采用更全面的方法来护理患者，并为改善社会健康成果铺平了道路。“基因向社会”成立于2009年，已经成为世界各地医学院校的新模式。
The curriculum is organized to allow each of our graduates to achieve the eleven educational objectives noted in the Mission and Medical Education Program Objectives for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The regular M.D. curriculum comprises four academic years designated First through Fourth Years. The academic requirements of this program can be combined with graduate study leading to a Master's or Ph.D. degree. The Genes to Society curriculum is highly integrated both vertically and horizontally across the four years. Elective time is available beginning in Quarter 4 of the Second Year. Elective courses are described in the programs of the various departments in the section under Departments and Divisions, Centers, Institutes, and Subjects of Instruction. This information is supplemented by an elective book which is updated annually. Selected students may interrupt the regular curriculum for one or more years in order to pursue special studies. The study of science basic to the practice of medicine begins in the First Year with four months of Foundations courses, including Foundations of Human Anatomy, Scientific Foundations, Clinical Foundations, and Foundations in Public Health: Epidemiology, Ethics, and the Health Care System. These courses are intended to introduce students to the basic language and concepts of biomedical science, including molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, anatomy, and the social and behavioral sciences. During Clinical Foundations, students begin training in the physician-patient medical interview, physical diagnostics, and clinical reasoning. Each student is assigned a college advisor (see Student Advising, page 77) upon entry to medical school, who serves as the instructor in Clinical Foundations, and academic and career advisor for the remainder of the four years.