The University of Arizona soon won’t be the only school in the state granting doctor of medicine degrees.
The world-renowned Mayo Clinic announced today that it is planning to open its first medical school outside of Rochester, Minn. in Scottsdale, in a partnership with Arizona State University.
Two other schools in Arizona graduate physicians — A.T. Still and Midwestern universities. Both those schools offer doctor of osteopathy programs, often called D.O.
The Mayo Clinic and the University of Arizona, which has campuses in Tucson and Phoenix, will be the only schools with M.D. or doctor of medicine programs, often known as allopathic medicine.
The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix started operating in 2006 at the former Phoenix Union High School campus. Today it has 48 medical students per year and is planning on increasing its class size to 80.
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The Mayo Medical School expects to have classes of 48 students, and will not open until 2014 at the earliest, said Dr. John Noseworthy, president and chief executive offficer of the Mayo Clinic.
Arizona State University will collaborate with the Mayo Medical School — Arizona Campus. Students enrolled in the Arizona Mayo Medical School will earn a master’s degree in the Science of Health Care Delivery from ASU concurrently with their medical degree.
ASU had previously pulled out of a partnership with the UA at its downtown Phoenix medical college, saying they wanted to to save money, avoid further debt and focus on priority programs.
UA College of Medicine—Phoenix dean Dr. Stuart Flynn said his medical school is flourishing and he welcomes the Mayo Clinic’s efforts in increasing the number of doctors that the state produces.
“I don’t think we’ll be competing for students. We’re first and foremost looking for Arizona students,” Flynn said. “If the motive for all of us is to increase the number of physicians in Arizona, including primary care physicians, the bigger numbers ought to be good.”
The Arizona branch of Mayo Medical School will be based on Mayo’s Scottsdale campus in buildings to be remodeled and retrofitte for the school. Officials with ASU and the Mayo Clinic say that since 2003, Mayo and ASU have worked together on a variety of successful efforts, including a joint nursing education program, collaborative research projects, joint faculty appointments and dual degree programs.
“The continuing success of our partnership with ASU allows us the collective ability to redesign medical education in ways that align with the future of health care delivery,” said Dr. Wyatt Decker, vice president of the Mayo Clinic and CEO for the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. “We are very excited that the expansion of Mayo Medical School to Arizona will further enhance our leadership role in training the next generation of physicians.”
Decker noted thatmost major metropolitan areas the size of Phoenix already have three to five full-fledged medical schools.
