The Learning and Assessment Center resulted from a multi-college effort to help health professions students improve their communication and diagnostic skills. The participating colleges include the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Human Medicine, Nursing, and Osteopathic Medicine, along with the Medical Technology Program, which is housed in the College of Natural Science.

The center contains 20 examination rooms where students can practice their skills using standardized patients/clients, simulation models, and computers.

Each exam room is equipped with video and audio data capture systems that can be used to provide feedback to the students and to record performance for evaluation.

Standardized patients are people who have been trained to portray a given disease or medical problem, like diabetes, anemia, gastrointestinal problems, heart problems, and the like.

Standardized clients are trained to play the role of animal owners in veterinary scenarios representing various animal health problems. Live animals come with them, A simulation laboratory is available that allows trainees to interact with devices and inanimate models for the purposes of developing key procedural skills and ascertaining whether they have reached basic competency. Several canine and feline manikin models are available for veterinary students to work with, such as Critical Care Fluffy and K-9 CPR Jerry.