UC-Merced Medical School Planning Continues

If a proposed medical school at the University of California-Merced is approved, the first medical students will start classes at the campus within the next decade, the Fresno Bee reports.

Under the proposal, UC officials would "build up" the existing medical school program at the UC-San Francisco campus at Fresno and "create the first two years of medical school" at UC-Merced, according to Maria Pallavicini, dean of the college of natural science at UC-Merced.

UC-Merced also would partner with the medical school at UC-Davis. The program could be extended to other cities including Modesto, Pallavicini said.

Joan Voris, associate dean of the UCSF-Fresno medical education program, said that typically 30% of "residents stay in the area where they train" and that "offering more training in some highly needed subspecialty areas could increase that number up to 50%."

More than $1.5 million in grants has been secured for the potential program. If approved, the first class is expected to be 32 students, but the school could admit up to 100 students in subsequent years (Boyles, Fresno Bee, 6/28).

The proposed medical school at UC-Merced "represents the best opportunity for the San Joaquin Valley to get a medical education facility in a region that desperately needs doctors," a Bee editorial states. According to the Bee, "it's time that our elected officials and community leaders give [the project] the attention it deserves" (Fresno Bee, 6/28).