Medical education is a rapidly expanding discipline with its practitioners drawn from a mix of backgrounds. Among them there is an increased understanding of the centrality of the curriculum process in the translation of educational ideas in practice. There are four main trends that underlie this increased understanding: a widened conception of the major elements of curriculum and their interactivity; a more conceptual and global view of curriculum, the incorporation of ideas from the educational literature and the need for a dynamic overarching model of curriculum. The latter will provide a framework for the ongoing curriculum challenges in the field.