HCMC has a long tradition of medical education since its establishment as the first teaching hospital in Minnesota. HCMC serves as a major teaching hospital for resident physicians, medical students, nurses, and other members of the health care team; collaborates and affiliates with other hospitals and educational institutions to fulfill its education responsibilities, and ensures that all of its graduate medical education programs meet the requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and individual Residency Review Committees where applicable. GME staff members facilitate the work of the hospital GME Committee and provide overall administration of the GME Program.

HCMC currently offers free-standing residency programs and fellowships that provide 280 resident physicians with clinical experience serving a broad mix of patients from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. These patients are drawn primarily from a population area of one million which includes the City of Minneapolis.