Mediation Updates
1.30.2026
The Board of Regents approved our agreement with M Physicians and Fairview, marking an important milestone that brings clarity and stability to the various dimensions of our relationship for the next 10 years.
This is a critical step, but it is not the end of the journey. We must continue to creatively and collaboratively explore multiple paths to address Minnesota’s urgent health care needs — including fostering additional and expanded partnerships, strengthening our medical school and schools of health sciences, and ensuring you have access to learn and practice in modern facilities. The path ahead requires a leader with demonstrated success leading organizations through transition, elevating national excellence and forging the next chapter of how the University of Minnesota advances its healthcare mission to fulfill its commitment to Minnesota.
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Carol Bradford will join the University of Minnesota as Interim Executive Vice President for Health Affairs (EVPHA) and Dean of the Medical School, beginning February 16. In this newly defined role, working with the health science deans, she will lead all aspects of our healthcare enterprise, positioning it for success. As EVPHA, she will report to the President’s Office; as Dean, she will work closely and have a reporting relationship with the Provost.
See her remarks to the Medical School and Schools of Health Sciences:
Dr Bradford background
Dr. Bradford is an internationally respected leader in medicine and is uniquely equipped to fulfill this vital role of advancing and bridging the Medical School and all of the academic health sciences across the University. Her career accomplishments include leading cultural transformation in a rapidly changing and uncertain healthcare environment, fostering collaborative interdisciplinary initiatives and balancing academic and clinical missions with strategic growth in Big Ten academic medical centers.
For the past five years, she served as dean of The Ohio State University College of Medicine and vice president for Health Sciences at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. There, Dr. Bradford oversaw the opening of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Center and launched a new learning track to prepare students for rural and smaller-community practice, addressing physician shortages in those areas. She also led the college to achieve an all-time high of $477 million in total extramural research funding and national recognition from U.S. News & World Report as a top-tier medical school for excellence in research in 2025-26.
Dr. Bradford is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and an internally recognized head and neck cancer surgeon-scientist. In 2020, she was elected president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and was inducted into the academy’s Hall of Distinction in 2023.
1.26.2026
These are extremely challenging times for Minnesota and for our University community. As difficult as these times are, it is important to lift up and share our successes together.
The University of Minnesota has forged a new agreement with M Physicians and Fairview that brings clarity to various dimensions of our relationship for the next 10 years. Pending approval by the Board of Regents, this agreement is an important milestone towards forging a path to improve the health of all Minnesotans.The agreement includes:
- Clarity on the financial mechanisms that help fund both the University of Minnesota Medical School and the research we do that leads to life-saving and life-sustaining cures.
- Stability that allows doctors to pursue their dual role of treating patients and training the next generation of health professionals in a world-class learning environment.
- A commitment by Fairview to continue to modernize and update their facilities
- An evolved branding and naming arrangement that more closely aligns with our future needs as well as those of Fairview and M Physicians.
We greatly appreciate that Attorney General Ellison stepped forward to provide a skilled mediation team who ensured that the interests of all parties were given proper consideration and reflected in this new agreement. The agreement affirms and supports the University’s critical role in medical education, research discovery and clinical care and brings stability needed to build a long-term solution to meet Minnesota’s most pressing health and healthcare needs.
Over the past three decades, our partnership with M Physicians and Fairview has played a vital role in caring for Minnesotans, training much of the state’s healthcare workforce, and advancing medical research. We’re committed to close collaboration and furthering engagement with healthcare providers across Minnesota to build upon this agreement while at the same time continuing to seek out additional ways to improve the health of all Minnesotans.
This agreement is an important milestone toward forging a new path to improve the health of all Minnesotans. Our vision for improving health and healthcare of all Minnesotans includes:
- Additional and expanded partnerships that result in consistent and sustained access to high-quality care across Minnesota.
- Sustaining, strengthening and expanding the University of Minnesota Medical School - one of the state’s most widely needed public assets.
- Recruitment and training of the next generation of health professionals to serve the state - including greater and rural Minnesota - in a world class learning environment. These professionals work across all health sciences disciplines including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, public health and veterinary.
- Expanded health innovation that leads to life-saving and life-sustaining cures.
- Modern patient care and teaching facilities and innovative technology and learning resources for training the future health and healthcare workforce.
What are the main elements of the agreement?
It provides clarity on the financial mechanisms that help fund both the University of Minnesota Medical School and the research we do that leads to life-saving and life-sustaining cures. It also brings stability to the doctors who both treat patients and train the next generation of health professionals and assures that they can practice and teach in modern, updated facilities.
What impact will this new agreement have on faculty, staff, students, and patients?
Nothing changes at this time. The existing agreement between the University of Minnesota, M Physicians, and Fairview Health Services remains in place through the end of 2026.
We are pleased that this new agreement brings longer-term clarity and stability to our partnership. With this agreement in place, we will continue working to shape a broader vision of how we achieve our mission and deliver health and healthcare excellence to all of Minnesota.
Does the University have a plan to address the health care needs of Minnesotans?
The University will continue to creatively and collaboratively explore multiple paths to address the health and healthcare needs of all Minnesotans for the coming decade, including improving access to rural care and advancing life-saving research. We look forward to sharing more about this vision in the weeks and months ahead.
Does the agreement leave room for additional partnerships?
While this is an important milestone, it’s not the end of the journey. The University will continue to creatively and collaboratively explore multiple paths to address the urgent health care needs - including forging additional and expanded partnerships that result in consistent and sustained access to high-quality care across MInnesota.