The Detroit Medical Center will be looking for a new academic partner for its orthopedic residency program after it decided this week to end its long-standing relationship with Wayne State University's School of Medicine. On Friday, both Mike Duggan, chief executive officer of the DMC, and Dr. Robert Mentzer Jr., dean of Wayne State's School of Medicine, played down reports of a fallout, saying both institutions need each other. The DMC and WSU couldn't come to an agreement about the orthopedic residency program: Duggan wanted to build a stronger sports medicine component within the program, but some doctors feared it would be at the expense of care for poor people. Detroit News health writer Pat Anstett also points out that this news raises the long-term issue of whether the DMC will end any of the other 64 residency and fellowship programs it runs with WSU.