On September 17 – 19, 2012, the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital at Mahidol University organized “The 1st ASEAN Deans’ Summit-Connecting ASEAN medical schools as one community.” Representatives from ten countries – Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei – participated in the event. Clinical Professor Udom Kachintorn, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, presided over the signing ceremony of the “Declaration of the Southeast Asian Medical Schools Initiative,” in which Deans and Rectors from the ASEAN countries agreed to participate in this important initiative. The primary goal is to establish and reinforce a network of collaborations among all participating medical schools in the region, encouraging exchanges in human resources, provisions of medical infrastructures, sharing of research data, and health systems. The overarching aim is to contribute to the betterment of the ASEAN community as a whole. The next ASEAN Deans’ summit is scheduled to take place in Malaysia in 2013, as proposed by Professor Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Malaya.