The paper reviews 50 years of research in health sciences education and identifies several recurring controversies--formative versus summative assessment, high and low fidelity simulation, expertise as knowledge versus skills, and the impact of teaching versus curriculum. I then look at the role these may play in the current situation where COVID has necessitated rapid change to distance learning. I then posit an essential role for research in teaching and learning, using multiple methods from qualitative to neuropsychological to better understand the dimensions of effective teaching. The ultimate goal is to operationalize these findings in creation of distance learning modules.