Academic medical centers are well-known for their emphasis on teaching, research and public service; however, like most large, bureaucratic organizations, they oftentimes suffer from an inability to learn as an organization. The role of the research administrator in the academic medical center has grown over time as the profession itself has become more important in the management of the research enterprise. The field of research administration within academic medical centers has grown to encompass a wide variety of responsibilities, including making sense of complicated rules, systems and processes in the administration of sponsored research, as well as managing the burden of regulatory compliance with applicable laws, contracts, institutional policies and sponsor guidelines. Keeping abreast of the complicated and fluctuating laws, guidelines, administrative processes and systems, and means of compliance is complicated even for the experienced research professional. This problem is compounded by struggles to foster the sharing of knowledge to new employees. Using an existing assessment tool, 121 research administrators at a large, private academic medical center were surveyed to define their perception of the academic medical center as a learning community (both collectively and by department type, gender and tenure) and to identify gaps in knowledge sharing, idea development, ability to learn from mistakes and reflective thinking. (Contains 7 tables.)