CSULB and MemorialCare join forces with new on-campus clinic

Cal State Long Beach and MemorialCare are teaming up to create a new clinic on the university campus that will combine clinical education with clinical practice – a partnership unique to the state of California. 

The 10,000-square-foot healthcare facility – scheduled to open in spring 2026 – will deliver the core programs of primary care, executive/concierge health, geriatric assessment, back pain treatment and sports medicine.  

The partnership aims to transform health care education, increase the number of allied health practitioners entering the workforce, and promote health equity in the community. The collaboration builds on decades of working together in preparing nurses at MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children's & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. 

“We are pleased to expand our partnership with Cal State Long Beach on a unique relationship that will innovate healthcare workforce training and education,” said Barry Arbuckle, president and CEO of MemorialCare. “Both of our institutions have a successful history of driving change and taking health education and care delivery to the next level. Together, we are grateful to be able to support the statewide need for workforce development and training.” 

The programs at the new clinic will address patient care and social determinants of health, while also supporting the educational needs of students within the College of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Dean Monica Lounsbery.

A major goal is to expand clinical practice to new areas, such as dietary evaluation, nutrition counseling, exercise prescription, exercise testing, sports injury treatment and prevention, mental and behavioral health, as well as speech and language therapies.

The facility – which has entered the design-planning phase – will also serve as a test site for other disciplines, such as hospitality management, with an eye on designing the welcome process and overall on-site experience. 

“Traditional models require universities to compete for clinical workforce placements for students to receive on-site service hours,” said President Jane Close Conoley. “Embedding the clinic within the CSULB campus ensures increased access to clinical rotations while enabling qualified faculty to take leadership roles within the clinic.” 

The clinic will address systemic challenges with bold and intentional innovations, including the delivery of cost-effective and superior patient care, while also increasing the quality of clinical education and growing the healthcare workforce. 

“We are proud of our long-standing, nearly 20-year partnership with Cal State Long Beach, not only because of the number of nurses we have been able to bring into the workforce with a bachelor’s degree, but also the high-caliber, quality level of nursing these graduates provide to our patients,” said John Bishop, CEO of MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. “We look forward to expanding the partnership and bringing additional clinical disciplines into the program and eventually hiring them throughout healthcare facilities in the community, as well as our MemorialCare hospitals and clinics.”   

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement: “On behalf of the city, congratulations to CSULB and MemorialCare on this great new public-private partnership. In Long Beach, we strive to be innovators, and this agreement will establish a completely new model of training – growing our future healthcare workforce both here in the city and throughout the region.”