Health professions training programs must evolve in order to prepare clinicians to be the experts society needs. Many of our conventional systems and processes emphasize the routine acquisition, application and, assessment of knowledge/skills. However, to meet the needs of the future patients and populations, education should be designed to provide clinicians with the foundation necessary to not only effectively apply their knowledge to routine problems, but also create new knowledge to handle non-routine problems and continuously learn as they work. Not doing so has significant implications for the health of society.  This focus session uses adaptive expertise as a framework for exploring expert cognition and designing curricula that foster excellence in healthcare.