The latest details of a proposed medical school in Phoenix were presented at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting Friday, where university officials projected the first Phoenix medical school class of 24 students would begin July 2006.
The admissions process for the new medical school in Phoenix is expected to begin in September, UA College of Medicine administrators said Friday.
At the meeting, it was still unknown how the project will be funded or an estimated cost, but Regents President Gary Stuart said officials are looking into both public and private sectors.
UA President Peter Likins said in expanding the UA's College of Medicine to a Phoenix campus, there is "a certain act of faith," and grand accomplishments will not be made if university officials are restricted by budget concerns during the planning stages.
Although many other logistical questions remained unanswered Friday, working groups were created to address important issues, including academic affairs, facilities and programming, research and business.
"These working groups should be the driving force to implement transparency," said Dr. Keith Joiner, dean of the UA College of Medicine.
Gov. Janet Napolitano also established the Arizona Commission on Medical Education and Research in October, with representatives from various institutes involved in the expansion, who will work through details regarding specific areas of planning, design and development and have recommendations ready by March.
Although there is not yet a student representative on ACMER, Stuart said students do sit on the working groups and play a considerable role, and their participation in the medical school planning may broaden in the future.
At the meeting Ben Graff, student regent and second-year UA law student, volunteered to organize student forums at Arizona State University and the UA next semester in order for student concerns, such as admissions and the application process, tuition and research, to be addressed by administrators.
Charlie Piermarini, a pre-physiological sciences freshman, said student representation on the working groups is vital to the execution of the medical school, as he believes the school's mission should be to further the education of the students.
"Students have a better understanding of what they need and how they learn more than faculty and administration do," Piermarini said. "Ultimately, this campus is for the students."
In August, Likins, Stuart and ASU President Michael Crow signed a memorandum of understanding, which outlined the collaborative efforts to expand UA's medical school to Phoenix.
Stuart said the endeavor is not the creation of a separate Arizona medical school; more accurately, it is a joint mission to address the health care needs of Arizona through education and biomedical research.
"I think of it as one College of Medicine, not two - it's one (college) with two campuses," Stuart said.
The advent of the medical school comes at a time when the Phoenix metropolitan area is facing an exploding population with acute health care needs, according to the memorandum.
To add to the health care crisis, Arizona is "handicapped" in getting federal funding for research because it lacks a top medical school, said John Murphy, president and CEO of the Flinn Foundation, which has donated $60 million to bioscience research in the past.
The medical school will be part of the 25-acre Phoenix Biomedical Campus of the Arizona University Systems. Classes will initially be held in three historic buildings, formerly Phoenix Union High School, 4001 N. Third St., with an annual lease cost of $376,328.
The medical school project is unique in that it requires the collaboration of ASU and the UA, as well as the Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, 400 N. Fifth St., in Phoenix, Joiner said.
Murphy said it is important for ASU, the UA and TGen to pool resources since having a top medical school is key in advancing Arizona to the forefront of the biosciences community.
"There is no one firm that specializes in developing a medical school," said Murphy. "It's the opportunity to broaden the participation of two universities - that doesn't happen often."
Joiner said in order for the Phoenix campus to be successful, all entities involved in the project should participate in honest, open strategic and financial planning rather than engaging in "backroom discussions."
"The best way to put it is for various different enterprises to stop saying, 'You have my money,'" Joiner said.
The medical school will also have a diverse faculty body, employing professors from both universities, TGen, Barrow Neurological Institute and other institutions as well as hiring outside faculty, Joiner said.
David Young, vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU, said he expects a radical transformation in the delivery of health care in Arizona in the next 10 to 20 years, and Murphy said the medical school will generate jobs, promote research and stimulate the economy.
"The pieces are starting to fall together," Stuart said.