Northwestern University and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare jointly announced today that they’ve have agreed to terminate their affiliation agreement.
Ending the agreement means that following a one-year transition period, most Northwestern students and residents will be phased out of rotations at the hospitals owned by Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and that most physicians and researchers at those hospitals would no longer be on the faculty of Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare separately announced that it is in confidential, exclusive talks regarding a potential academic affiliation with the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine.
ENH said it continues those discussions “with a steadfast commitment to support outstanding teaching programs in an academic setting that promotes the clinical teaching and research interests of our physician faculty.”
Evanston Northwestern owns Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital and Highland Park Hospital.
The NU/ENH statement said the termination of the agreement stemmed from different visions by Northwestern and ENH regarding future directions for the respective institutions.
“We have appreciated our partnership with Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and we wish it well in its future endeavors,” said Northwestern University President Henry S. Bienen.
The Feinberg School of Medicine will continue to focus its efforts on creating a great academic medical center by strengthening its relationships with its other affiliated hospital and physician partners, including Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center.
“We value our longstanding affiliation with Northwestern University, which created a dynamic environment where the best and brightest clinical and scientific minds came together to collaborate and innovate new discoveries,” said Mark R. Neaman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
“We recognize the importance of medical education and clinical research in support of our patient care mission,” said Neaman. “You can be assured that we will develop a strong academic relationship going forward in support of our steadfast commitment to offer outstanding teaching programs in an academic setting that promotes the clinical teaching and research interests of our physician faculty.”
The phase out of the affiliation between the two institutions will begin June 20.
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