Why Do Most Medical Professional Societies Call Chicago Home?

Professional medical societies "concerned" about physician education, advocacy and quality appear to have multiplied at an alarming rate over the years. Interestingly, it seems many of the professional offices of these societies are based in Chicago.  On my review, no other city in the United States hosts more of them (not even Philadelphia).

Why is this?

First, there is the grand-daddy of all physician professional societies: the American Medial Association based at AMA Plaza, 330 N Wacker Drive, Chicago. 

Next, there's the American Board of Medial Specialties (ABMS) (who boasts its supervisory role over 24 subsidiary specialty medical societies across the nation, including the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American College of Cardiology among others) that has it's home at 222 North LaSalle Street in Chicago, just blocks away from the AMA building.  

Next, there's the little-known Council on Medical Specialty Societies,  who also seemed to be concerned with physician "quality" located just across the Chicago river at 35 E. Wacker Drive.

And let's not forget the Acceditation Council on Graduate Medical Education who oversees all graduate medical education in the United States located at 515 North State Street in Chicago.

Makes you wonder why all of these societies are within blocks of each another in Chicago. 

Maybe it's so they can have lunch together.  Maybe it's because of all of the academic medical centers located here in Chicago who have retiring professors that need a place to land.  Maybe it's because of the state's political leanings.  Or perhaps it's just because of Chicago's fairly central US geographic location? 

One thing's for sure, it certainly isn't because of low real estate prices or low taxes.

-Wes