Created in 2006, the Center for Excellence in Faith and Health serves as an engine of research, reflection, innovation and training.

Excellence in faith and health is only possible through partnership. We are owned by three Conferences of the United Methodist Church. From this base we are building a network with hundreds of congregations and faith communities that will help us care for our neighborhoods and our patients, before and after they are technically ‘our patients.’ We see this as a work of life that goes well beyond the aspirations of a regular hospital. 

In Memphis the major partner is the congregation. While our staff and physicians do everything medically possible, the healing of our patients is heavily dependent on the love and care they experience from their families and congregations. Nearly 70% of our patients indicate they attend one of the 2,000 places of worship regularly. Dozens of local clergy are helping us design a broader partnership so that we can work even more closely together for the health of our communities. We are developing training programs to expand the healing ministries of those congregations and to ensure that every patient travels their healing path accompanied by excellent care.

As part of our mission, we and our community partners serve the working poor. We are the largest provider of services to the poor in Tennessee. One of our major partners in that endeavor is the Church Health Center, a nationally-known program that provides affordable health care and a variety of other related services for those in need. We provide financial and other resources to help them fulfill their goals in the community.

Through these partners and others, we strive to improve the care our patients and neighbors receive and spread a greater vision of faith and health around the world. We are the principle teaching hospital for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and work closely with the University of Memphis. Our staff collaborates with Memphis Theological Seminary to develop new courses and created a new Doctor of Ministry degree to build leadership capacity among clergy and our staff. We are home to some of the staff of the Emory University Interfaith Health Program. Reaching even farther, we partner with faculty at the University of Cape Town and the Oslo Center in Norway to develop some of the leading research in the field of faith and health used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.