Welcome to Standing Ready Episode 3 “The Academic Advancement” focusing on 75 years of VHA’s affiliation with the nation’s medical schools. Through this historic collaboration, VA has become the largest single provider of medical training in the country and 70 percent of all doctors receive their training from VA hospitals. In this episode, Katie and Shawn meet with Dr. Murray Levin, who was Chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and Chief of Medical Services at the VA Lakeside Hospital in Chicago before joining Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Levin recalls his early days in the 1950s as a medical school resident in a VA hospital and shares his insights about the partnership between Northwestern and the VA during his time there. Northwestern was the first university to partner with a VA hospital in 1946 and we are joined later in the episode by Dr. Andrea Birnbaum, the Associated Chief of Staff for Education at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. As an expert on Northwestern’s current relationship with the VA she shares some insights on innovations in medical teaching and how COVID 19 has impacted academic affiliations.