During the process of curriculum review and revision at our medical school, the teaching and learning of doctor-patient touch came under scrutiny. The authors initiated a project to assess student attitudes regarding doctor-patient touch in routine medical encounters and to observe student learning and use of touch while engaged in clinical encounters. This paper describes the settings of the medical school and the health system that our graduates will serve; provides a brief assessment of the sparse literature on doctor-patient touching; addresses the development of a survey instrument to assess student attitudes toward and perceptions of this topic; and reports on findings of our first survey of two student cohorts. The analysis found no students reporting general patterns of discomfort with doctorpatient touching. As expected, students reported less comfort examining opposite gender patients and when requesting patients to disrobe or uncover parts of their bodies. There was overall acceptance of the utility of touch in making a diagnosis, in aiding a patient's healing process and in contributing to a positive doctor-patient relationship. Additionally, students reported a high level of comfort in touching patients of different cultures and religions. There were few significant differences between women and men, but differences were noted in the patterns of first and second year students. These findings, while viewed with the inevitable limitations of self-report, reassure us that there seem to be no student perceptions which are barriers to a more conscious and open focus upon the teaching of touch to doctors in training.