An academic health science(s) centre (AHSC; also known as an academic health science(s) system, an academic health science(s) partnership or an academic medical centre) is a partnership between one or more universities and healthcare providers focusing on research, clinical services, education and training. AHSCs are intended to ensure that medical research breakthroughs lead to direct clinical benefits for patients. The organisational structures that comprise an AHSC can take a variety of forms, ranging from simple partnerships to, less frequently, fully integrated organisations with a single management board.
There are currently AHSCs operating in a number of countries including Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
AHSCs currently in operation in Australia include:
Brisbane Diamantina Health Partners(Brisbane, Australia)
Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (Melbourne, Australia)
Monash Partners (Melbourne, Australia)
In Canada, AHSCs are also referred to as Academic Healthcare Organizations. AHSCs currently in operation in Canada include:
Hamilton Health Sciences (Hamilton, Ontario)
Health Sciences North (Sudbury, Ontario) Only trauma center in Northern Ontario and the neighbouring province of Manitoba.
London Health Sciences Centre (London, Ontario)
McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, Quebec)
The Ottawa Hospital (Ottawa, Ontario)
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay, Ontario)
University Health Network (Toronto, Ontario)
Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
In 2007 a review of healthcare in London led by Professor Lord Darzi, A Framework for Action, recommended the creation of a number of AHSCs. In October 2007 Imperial College Healthcare became the first AHSC to be established in the UK when the Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine merged with the Hammersmith Hospital and St Mary's NHS trusts. Four more AHSCs have subsequently been established in the UK and one is planned.
Funding mainly comes from NHS and work was already "in hand to identify the funding" when expressions of interest were solicited. When contracts were signed with NHS in 2013, AHSCs shared among themselves around £60 million of funding.
With a clear purpose, structure and approach of individual AHSCs is a matter for local decision especially with the contrasting approaches adopted as well as the differences in opinions voiced out by network founders.
The following AHSCs are currently in operation in the UK:
Cambridge University Health Partners (Cambridge)
Imperial College Healthcare (London)
King's Health Partners (London)
West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (Birmingham)
Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (Manchester)
Oxford Academic Health Science Centre (Oxford)
UCL Partners (London)
Health Science Scotland
AHSCs currently in operation in the United States include:
Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado
BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, Missouri
Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine, Lebanon, New Hampshire
Duke University Medical Center, (Durham, North Carolina)
Greenville Health System Clinical University, (Greenville, South Carolina)
J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center, University of Florida (Gainesville and Jacksonville, Florida)
Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland)
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts)
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University and Cornell University, New York, New York
NYU Langone Medical Center, New York University, New York, NY
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook University- State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY
Temple University Hospital, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Texas Medical Center (Houston, Texas)
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tufts Medical Center (Boston, Massachusetts)
UCLA Health System (Los Angeles, California)
UC San Diego Health, (La Jolla, California
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama
University of Chicago Medical Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark, New Jersey)
University of Michigan Health System, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Mississippi Medical Center, Mississippi
University of North Carolina Hospitals (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania
University of Utah Hospital, University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah)
University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, Wisconsin
UW Medicine, University of Washington (Seattle, Washington)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Vidant Medical Center, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (Greenville, North Carolina)
VCU Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Yale-New Haven Hospital, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
AHSCs currently in operation in other parts of the world include:
Dublin Academic Medical Centre (Dublin, Ireland)
Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden)
Kyushu University Academic Medical Center (Fukuoka, Japan)
Leiden University Medical Center (Leiden, the Netherlands)
National University Health System (Singapore)
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
Trinity Health Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
Hamad Medical Corporation (Doha, Qatar)
