UC-Merced To Partner With UC-Davis To Enroll First Medical Students
UC-Merced recently announced that it would take a major step toward creating its medical school two years earlier than expected, the Merced Sun-Star reports.
Although UC-Merced's medical education program is slated to begin in 2013, the campus is partnering with UC-Davis and UC-San Francisco's Fresno facility to enroll six students in UC-Merced's medical program next fall.
The students will enroll through the UC-Merced San Joaquin Valley Program In Medical Education, which will be UC's sixth Program In Medical Education, also known as PRIME. PRIME programs aim to train medical students to improve health care in rural and underserved areas.
Plan for First Students
Fred Meyers -- executive associate dean of UC-Davis School of Medicine and executive director of Medical Education and Academic Planning for UC-Merced -- said students will be based at UC-Davis for the first two years of the program.
During their second two years, students will work with community clinics in the San Joaquin Valley (Oppenheim, Merced Sun-Star, 9/14).
Although UC-Davis and UC-Merced officials have yet to select the sites where students will work and train, they said they hope the program will encourage students to practice medicine in the San Joaquin Valley area (Castellon, Visalia Times-Delta, 9/15).
UC officials said the program already has received 100 applications. The deadline for submitting application materials is Oct. 1 (Merced Sun-Star, 9/14).
Editorial
"The movement to establish a medical school in the central San Joaquin Valley took a major leap forward Wednesday with the announcement that UC-Merced will partner with UC-Davis to begin training medical students," a Merced Sun-Star editorial states. It continues, "The latest partnership shows that UC is committed to making the medical school a reality," even during challenging economic times (Merced Sun-Star, 9/16).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.