“…Problems that were once the province of isolated pedagogical specialists are increasingly the shared concern of all who teach in higher education. And the language of learning, once a foreign tongue to most academics, has become more widely spoken and more deeply understood.” Hutchings P, Huber MT and Ciccone, A (2011) “Today's education was yesterday's legacy and will be tomorrow's challenge” (Adapted from Cooke, Irby and O'brien, 2010) Greetings from the Organising Committee of APMEC 2017. We warmly welcome all delegates participating in APMEC 2017. Many would have crossed several time zones in making their journey to Singapore; thank you for your effort and a special welcome to you. As always we would like, firstly, to express our gratitude and deep appreciation to our plenary speakers and to all who share their wisdom, experience and expertise with our participants. We are also delighted that the international unit of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME-I) of the USA is participating in a significant way in APMEC 2017. The participation of ACGME-I, together with all the activities that we have planned for you, clearly reflect our intended aim of enhancing the globalisation of medical and health professional education for the promotion of global healthcare; the two are interdependent systems. We hope all participants will benefit greatly from the leadership provided by the team from ACGME-I. We wish to put on record our grateful thanks to ACGME-I for providing leadership in this context. Of course no conference can claim true success without the support of its participants. Indeed, we wish to convey our sincere thanks to all participants of APMEC 2017, especially participants who continue to support our APMEC series held annually in Singapore. We all share a common goal: it is to build a community of scholars in education in this region and beyond. APMEC 2017 provides a forum for the formation of such a community to become a reality, so that we can continue to enjoy and learn from each other. After all, the “… language of learning…” is no longer “…a foreign tongue to most academics, ….” We also hope that participants will continue their conversations, started at APMEC 2017, with colleagues in their home institutions long after they have left the shores of Singapore. Only then can we share and learn together (“All teach All Learn”) for the benefit of our students and, ultimately, for the benefit of our respective communities. We apologise for any shortcomings that participants may experience at APMEC 2017; however, through your valued feedback we will strive hard to overcome any “deficiencies” drawn to our attention. Today, we need to educate and equip our students with the requisite knowledge (including intellectual pursuits), skills and attitudes to become the next generation of competent practitioners who can meet the challenges and demands of healthcare delivery in the 21st century. In this context, we sincerely hope that the various educational inputs within APMEC 2017 will serve as guidance and provide key directions for all of us to achieve this aim. Last, but certainly not least, we also wish to thank our own team (TEAM CenMED led so ably by Ms Lee Su Mei) for all their hardwork in providing excellent administrative support to ensure that APMEC 2017 proceeds smoothly. Without our team, it would have been a really daunting task for us to stage, yet, another APMEC so successfully. Thank you everyone in Team-CenMED for your valuable support; we are indeed proud of your achievements and we are also grateful to each and every member of the Team. May we now take this opportunity to wish everyone an enjoyable conference: renew old friendships, make new friends and “build bridges and connect minds”- to boost your pedagogical intelligence!