Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and UMass Chan Medical School Sign Letter of Intent To Establish Regional Medical Campus

Burlington, Mass. – Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and UMass Chan Medical School have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to explore establishing a regional medical campus that would help train, develop and support the next generation of healthcare leaders. Based at LHMC, the new regional medical campus would be home to an innovative medical education program with a special focus on leadership, health systems science and interprofessional education.

“UMass Chan Medical School and Lahey Hospital & Medical Center are equally committed to advancing medical education and research to provide our communities with superior health care,” said David Longworth, MD, president of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. “We are eager to work together on the next phase of this promising opportunity to build upon our approaches to physician education and training.”

With an interest in redefining its approach to medical education to meet the evolving healthcare landscape, Lahey recently undertook a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to identify a medical school with which to partner in training, developing and supporting the next generation of healthcare leaders. Following a careful review of all the proposals submitted, the signing of a LOI between Lahey and UMass Chan Medical School reflects a shared vision for training aspiring physicians in ways that advance evidence-based, patient-centered, collaborative and multidisciplinary practice.

“The evolving health care landscape requires innovation in how we educate the next generation of healthcare leaders so that we can meet the diverse needs of our communities for years to come,” said Anne Mosenthal, MD, chief academic officer of Lahey Hospital & Medical Center. “UMass Chan Medical School shares our vision for redefining the future of medicine and is an outstanding cultural fit to build on Lahey’s commitment to inter-professional, team-based care that is centered on the patient and reflects a culture of inquiry and innovation.”

“UMass Chan and Lahey share a common vision of training future generations of physicians grounded in evidence-based, patient-centered, multispecialty and interprofessional practice,” said Michael F. Collins, MD, chancellor of UMass Chan and senior vice president for the health sciences for the University of Massachusetts. “We look forward to welcoming Lahey Hospital & Medical Center as one of our outstanding clinical affiliates.”

The new regional medical campus would emphasize team training, leadership, communication skills and a deep understanding of health systems, preparing students to lead and create solutions to future challenges in healthcare. Medical students learning and training at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center would follow the core curriculum of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine at UMass Chan and complete their third-year clerkship rotations and the majority of their fourth-year rotations under the supervision of Lahey faculty and specialty-specific clerkship site directors. With a focus on community-based care, the partnership would also enhance the diversity in the health profession workforce through innovative partnerships and pipeline programs with other UMass sites.

As part of an affiliation agreement, Lahey and UMass Chan also seek to form a new research collaboration, together creating a new Institute for Healthcare Delivery Science and quantitative science research hub, to advance innovation in digital medicine, population health, and healthcare delivery.

Pending the successful completion of discussions and a formal agreement to establish the regional campus, as well as accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, it is anticipated that the first UMass Chan-Lahey students would matriculate in the summer of 2024.