The Faculty of Medicine and the Medical Center have been providing services in the realms of medical education, training, and health care to their immediate constituency, Lebanon and the Middle East, continuously since 1867, the date of the founding of the Faculty of Medicine. The Faculty of Medicine programs have been approved by and registered in the Education the State of New York on a continual basis since 1867. In 1957 the Faculty became an institutional member of the Association of American Medical Colleges. It enjoyed this status until 1988, when the new rules of the association precluded membership of institutions outside the confines of the North American continent.