The grant was approved Tuesday (Sept. 27) by the district's board of directors. "This exceptional support from the Desert Healthcare District demonstrates the board members' extraordinary vision for the long-term health of their constituents," said G. Richard Olds, dean of the UC Riverside medical school. "This grant is vital not only for launching medical school programs in the region, but also for leveraging additional funding support of the medical school. We are tremendously gratified by the board's action."
The grant will enable the medical school to:
- Appoint primary care physicians who will treat patients at medical practices established throughout the healthcare district and who will teach medical students and medical residents at these practices as well as Desert Regional Medical Center.
- Establish residency training programs and clerkship rotations for medical students in health care facilities in the district. During their third and fourth years of medical school, students complete "rotations," during which they develop advanced clinical skills in a variety of specialties, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology. Following M.D. training, physicians are required to complete residency training in their chosen discipline.
- Equip the physician practice and the Federally Qualified Health Centers in the district with advanced "telemedicine" technology which will link the region's clinical and educational locations to the UC Riverside campus and broader California Telehealth Network for educational programs and patient consultations with specialists outside the region.
- Partner with existing Coachella Valley initiatives to support students aspiring to careers in the health care industry with student outreach and enrichment programs that inspire students to pursue healthcare careers and enhance their competitiveness for professional health training programs, including medical school.
"Developing our residency training programs, expanding our pre-medical student programs and building our clinical practice are all vital for building the medical school at UCR. We can start all of these programs while we continue to seek the funding necessary to open the medical school," Olds said. UC Riverside officials are continuing to work on securing preliminary accreditation for a full, four-year medical school, with the target of opening it in summer 2013.
The University of California, Riverside, is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UC Riverside's enrollment has exceeded 20,500 students. The campus will open a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.