The Grand Rapids area is home to a progressive, high-quality medical and health professions community with a strong track record of delivering comprehensive care to the region. More than 900 clinical faculty participate in the education of our students and residents, offering our trainees a diverse, highly talented and committed group of health professionals from which to learn.

Coming Together
For many years, various institutions in Grand Rapids administered residency training programs, medical student programs and health professions' training.

In late 1999 that changed when the Medical Education and Research Center came into being with a consortium made up of the leading health care providers and educators in Grand Rapids and Michigan. The founding members of the consortium are Michigan State University, Spectrum Health, Saint Mary's Health Care and Grand Valley State University.

In addition, several other not-for-profit education and health care organizations participate at various levels with the Medical Education and Research Center and its objectives.

Working Together
The Medical Education and Research Center is unique in its focus on educational integration and offers:

• An education and research consortium that effectively integrates the training of residents, medical students and health professions students
• A research institute that will serve as the central vehicle for clinical research in Grand Rapids
• An educational organization that promotes education and research on a citywide basis-crossing hospital and university boundaries in a non-competitive manner
• An education and research center that is a model for integrative medical and health professions education.

We invite you to take some time and explore our web site, which explains the vision behind the Medical Education and Research Center and the many services and programs it provides.