The Medical Mile: how Grand Rapids became a research hub

Walk along Michigan Street in downtown Grand Rapids and you’ll pass something that barely existed a generation ago: the “Medical Mile,” a packed row of hospitals, research labs, and medical schools climbing the hill. It got its start in 1996, when Jay and Betty Van Andel — yes, the Amway co-founder — created the Van Andel Institute, a research center that studies diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s. (Jay himself had Parkinson’s disease.) He backed it with a gift estimated at around a billion dollars, and it kick-started billions more in building along the street. Today the Medical Mile includes big hospitals like Corewell Health’s Butterworth Hospital and the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Michigan State University’s medical school and research center, and health programs from Grand Valley State and Ferris State universities. Together they’ve turned Grand Rapids into one of Michigan’s major centers for healthcare and medical research — and a big part of the city’s modern economy. (A fun detail: the Van Andel Institute’s glass roof was designed to echo the river rapids the city is named for.)