Our Priorities
Through its programs, the Foundation strives to foster innovation in health professional education and to align the education of health professionals with contemporary health needs and a changing health care system.
The Foundation’s grantmaking is focused on projects that:
- Demonstrate or encourage interprofessional education and teamwork among health care professionals;
- Teach principles of patient safety, quality improvement, and system performance;
- Develop new models for clinical education, including community-based models;
- Increase the diversity of the health care professional workforce through career development for underrepresented minorities; and
- Improve education for the care of underserved populations.
History of Our Priorities
Since 1930, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has worked to improve health care in the United States. Founded by Kate Macy Ladd in memory of her father, prominent philanthropist Josiah Macy Jr., the Foundation originally focused its grantmaking on medical research. It was not until the 1950’s that the Foundation began to center its efforts on medical education as a means for improving health care.
Since the mid-1970s, the overwhelming majority of the Foundation’s grants have supported projects that broaden and improve health professional education. Currently, it is totally devoted to innovation in health professional education, and it is the only national foundation solely dedicated to this mission.
Read more about the Foundation’s history.