01.24.07

will UH start a medical school?

Posted in News at 11:28 pm by Paloma Cruz

It looks like the University of Houston is looking into starting a medical schoo. The Houston Chronicle reports:

In a move that would ratchet up an ongoing rivalry in the Texas Medical Center, the University of Houston is considering starting a medical school in partnership with The Methodist Hospital and Cornell University.

The idea, quietly explored by UH leaders in recent months, comes amid appeals for medical school expansion because of projected statewide and nationwide doctor shortages. Houston now has two medical schools — Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

“We would be remiss if we didn’t explore the possibility,” UH President Jay Gogue said. “When you’re sitting next to the world’s largest medical center, in a state that’s 41st out of 50th in physicians per capita, it would be almost unconscionable not to do due diligence.”

Under a consultant’s proposal, UH would provide students’ basic-science training in their first two years and Cornell-affiliated physicians at Methodist would provide the clinical training in the last two years. Students would get a medical degree jointly awarded by UH and Cornell.

UH acknowledged its interest in a medical school only after the Houston Chronicle filed a Texas Open Records request. UH initially sought to appeal the request to Attorney General Greg Abbott, but acquiesced and released the consultant’s report and e-mail correspondence with Cornell about the “collaborative project.”

[snip]

Do we really need another medical school in Houston? Considering that news reports are predicting a shortage of doctors, maybe we do.

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