University Hospitals and Northeast Ohio Medical University experience early success, extend major affiliation

University Hospitals (UH) and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) extended the reach of their July 2022 major affiliation agreement. The organizations aim to build on their early successes through their major affiliation and have identified significant opportunities to collaborate throughout this year and beyond.

Among several new initiatives, the major affiliates will:

• grow NEOMED’s medicine, pharmacy and certified anesthesia assistant class sizes;
• expand involvement of NEOMED students and faculty at UH;
• develop a University Hospitals Faculty Scholars Program;
• increase UH health professionals’ participation in NEOMED health care executive education and leadership programs; and
• advance research and innovation by collaborating across certain research areas and thought-leadership programming.

Two hometown teams

Leaders at both organizations say they complement each other as two hometown teams that want to advance both the health professions workforce and the quality of health care, citing the past year as evidence of what’s to come.

“At the onset of our major affiliation agreement in July 2022, we knew we would be able to increase the number of clinical rotations and practice experiences for NEOMED students, as well as the number of health professionals who remained in Northeast Ohio to practice after graduation,” said NEOMED President John Langell, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. “And we’ve done just that. But as our teams formed a joint strategic operations group, it became immediately clear that our potential together was even greater.”

During the first year of the initial agreement, a total of 77 third-year medical students (M3) engaged in clinical rotations at UH. For the current academic year, the number of M3 clerkships grew to include 164 students. Fifteen 2023 NEOMED College of Medicine graduates matched at UH for residency training within seven different specialties. The major affiliates also launched the inaugural Healthcare Transformation Ideator event in June 2023. The two-day competition challenged over 60 participants with developing innovative tech-enabled ideas to improve maternal and infant mortality.

NEOMED students completed summer research projects at UH and others participated in physician-student mentoring, which began in October. As workforce and leadership development programs are beginning to take shape, seven UH health professionals have already enrolled in the Master of Public Health degree program at NEOMED’s College of Graduate Studies.

“University Hospitals is committed to training the next generation of physicians and caregivers, who will provide compassionate and expert care to our community,” said Daniel Simon, M.D., President, Academic & External Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer at UH, and the Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in Health Care Leadership. “NEOMED’s strong commitment to primary care and health equity makes it the ideal public medical university to partner with.”

Greater investment

Under the extended agreement, UH and NEOMED recognize that affiliation activities involving faculty and students create a broader academic medical center. And they aim to invest in onsite facilities for students and faculty at their respective locations.

In addition to NEOMED, UH has academic affiliations with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Oxford University, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and National Taiwan University College of Medicine.

NEOMED collaborates with many major health systems and pharmacies in Northeast Ohio to provide clinical training and practice experiences for its students. Members of NEOMED’s clinical network include Akron Children’s Hospital, Aultman Hospital in Canton, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Mercy Health — St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, MetroHealth Medical Center and Summa Health System.