howard s. barrows (march 28, 1928 – march 25, 2011) was an american physician and medical educator who was professor emeritus at the southern illinois university school of medicine where he had previously served as associate dean for educational affairs and chair of medical education. trained as a neurologist, barrows is best known today for his many innovations in medical education, particularly teaching using problem-based learning (pbl), developed while he was a professor at mcmaster university medical school, assessing clinical skills using simulated patients, and studying clinical reasoning using stimulated recall techniques.