SBCMS News/Media

Local Group Announces Plans for a New Non-Profit Medical School

A local group led by Dr. Dev GnanaDev, a longtime surgeon and nationally recognized leader in health care, announced Monday it has formulated a plan to develop a privately-funded, non-profit medical school in Colton, Southern California. The allopathic (M.D.) school, known as California University of Science and Medicine (Cal Med), College of Medicine, seeks to receive accreditation from the Licensing Committee on Medical Education in time to welcome its first class in 2016.

“This is an exciting and much-needed opportunity for medical students in the Inland Empire and California,” said Dr. GnanaDev, Cal Med’s founder, president and chief executive officer. “Because of many factors, including the extremely limited medical school spots in our state and severe shortage of doctors, we believe this project will have a significant positive impact on the economy, education and health for many decades.”

The university and the medical school are being financed primarily through a $40 million donation from Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501©3, non- profit, public charity founded by Dr. Prem Reddy, a cardiologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. The Foundation also operates six non-profit hospitals. He is a long- term resident of San Bernardino County and will serve as the chairman of the board for Cal Med. Dr. Reddy is also the founder, chairman, president and CEO of Prime Healthcare Services. Through their subsidiaries, Prime Healthcare Services and the Foundation own and operate 25 hospitals in six states across the country. 

“This is a landmark day for our communities in medical education and health care,” said Dr. Reddy. “I am extremely proud as a physician, as a local resident and longtime proponent of health education to contribute to this project. Through Dr. GnanaDev’s vision and participation of many who will be positively affected by the school, the medical school will become a pillar of health education in our area.”

Cal Med will be housed initially at a temporary site until a permanent facility, potentially located near Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Colton, is built. The school expects to welcome 50 students in its inaugural class and include a maximum of approximately 150 within a decade.

“Cal Med will be a great addition to the universities, colleges and trade schools providing career training and educational opportunities to our residents," San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Rutherford said. "In addition, the new medical school will help us overcome our region's doctor shortage by allowing more students to pursue careers in the medical profession."
      
Cal Med will cultivate an environment that facilitates advances in education, research and health care delivery, and it will partner with ARMC, the County of San Bernardino’s top-quality health care facility, and other hospitals in the county and throughout Southern California to train the next generation of innovative and diverse health care professionals.
 
“The opportunity to establish a new medical school within the county is exciting,” said Josie Gonzales, Fifth District Supervisor for the County of San Bernardino. “The medical school will not only help meet the growing demand for new health care professionals, it would be an economic boost to Colton and the surrounding communities.”
The medical school will be governed by a four-person board of directors, including Drs. GnanaDev and Reddy; Dustin Corcoran, chief executive officer of the California Medical Association; and Dr. Albert Karnig, president emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino.

The College of Medicine leadership will be comprised of a highly qualified and experienced group of physicians, including Dr. Emily Ebert, a family medicine physician at ARMC who will serve as associate dean, graduate medical education. A national search is underway for the Dean of the College of Medicine.

The need for a medical school: physician shortage:
According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, the United States faces a shortage of 91,500 primary care and specialist physicians by 2020. In San Bernardino County, there is just one primary care physician per 1,201 people, one half the number compared to the national rate.

The need for a medical school: aging Baby Boomer population:
Baby Boomers are individuals born between 1946 and 1964 and make up about 26.1 percent of the U.S. population, or an estimated 78 million people. California is one of five states with the largest Baby Boomer population. It is expected that one of every six Californians will be 65 or older by 2030 and, as the Baby Boomer population ages, a more intense, dignified and responsive health care system will be required to meet their medical needs.

The need for a medical school: California medical students abroad:
According to a government report, from 1998 to 2008 the federal government loaned $1.5 billion to U.S. students enrolled in foreign medical institutions through the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Of the 42,000 medical student applicants, only 18,600 matriculated and the remainder was forced to consider alternatives. For example, 20 to 25 percent of students currently enrolled in medical schools in the Caribbean islands are from California. A majority of these students graduated from elite California colleges with excellent grade-point averages. California, however, has just 8 fully accredited MD schools, and one new one (UC Riverside), for a population of 39 million; in comparison, New York, with a population of 19.5 million, has 13 MD schools.

“Clearly, for these reasons and many more, the timing and need for Cal Med is now,” said Dr. GnanaDev.

Cal Med Contact - Jorge Valencia, 909-580-6334