MedStar Research Institute is the research center of MedStar Health, a $2.7 billion nonprofit health care organization and a community-based network of seven hospitals and other health care services in the Baltimore-Washington region. The purpose of the institute is to conduct and support medical research that results in better treatments and prevention strategies for the major diseases affecting the communities it serves. The organization employs more than 23,000 staff members and 4,600 affiliated physicians. It serves more than 145,000 patients each day and more than 1 million patients each year. In 2005, MedStar Health co-sponsored the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope fundraising bike ride. MedStar Research Institute is located in Hyattsville, Md.