Mayo Medical School Receives State Licensure For Arizona Branch Campus

“This is a major milestone in our journey to open a full four-year branch campus of Mayo Medical School in Scottsdale,” says Wyatt Decker, M.D. (MMS ’90, I ’93), CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Earlier this month, Mayo Medical School leaders announced they had also received endorsement for the expansion from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body for medical education.

While many experts wonder if medical schools across the country are doing enough to prepare graduates for the challenges of an evolving health care system, Dr. Decker notes that the medical school — planned to open in 2017 — won’t rest on conventional physician training.

“The reality is that most medical schools are teaching the same way they did 100 years ago,” Dr. Decker said in a recent Wall Street Journal article. “It’s time to blow up that model and ask, ‘What must we do to train tomorrow’s doctors?’”

One tool that will be woven into the school’s transformative education is a four-year Science of Health Care Delivery curriculum jointly developed with Arizona State University (ASU), along with innovative online learning modules. As Mayo medical students master subjects such as systems engineering, health care policy and biomedical informatics, they will become the first in the nation to receive a certificate in the Science of Health Care Delivery, jointly conferred by Mayo Medical School and ASU, along with their medical degree. Students will also have the personal option of completing a master’s degree in the Science of Health Care Delivery through ASU.

“The goal of the Science of Healthcare Delivery curriculum is to provide a patient-based, science-centered and value-driven system designed to help patients heal and keep them healthy,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “We are proud of our collaboration with Mayo on this important update to medical education.”

Originally established in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1972, Mayo Medical School is considered one of the most highly competitive medical schools in the country for admittance. Averaging over 4,700 applications per year, Mayo Medical School traditionally accepts only 50 students per enrolling class. With the opening of the Arizona campus in 2017, this will increase to 50 additional students per year. Careful planning will maintain a coveted feature of the school — its high faculty-to-single student ratio.

“Mayo Medical School’s expansion into Arizona is an important boost to our local economy,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “Phoenix and Mayo Clinic share a common vision to grow bioscience in our region — and the Mayo Medical School will strengthen our position as an international destination for health care related research and education.”

Along with the current four-year Mayo Medical School campus in Minnesota and creating a four-year campus at Mayo Clinic in Arizona in 2017, the school will also open a complete third- and fourth-year campus at Mayo Clinic in Florida in 2016. This national expansion will become a reality thanks to visionary benefactors who have expanded the school’s endowment and support from Mayo Clinic.

“Mayo Medical School will truly be a national medical school,” notes Michele Halyard, M.D. (RADO ’89), Suzanne Hanson Poole Vice Dean and incoming interim dean of the school. “We are training our students to be excellent physicians and scientists and we are equipping them with the leadership and tools to transform America’s ailing health care system.”

The expansion of the medical school is a natural next step in its track record of training highly skilled physicians. Notably, Mayo Medical School students routinely match to top residency programs across the country with 98 percent of fourth year students reporting a match to one of their top residency choices, and 80 percent — more than twice the national average — publishing research manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.

Mayo Medical School’s goal to transform medical education also reaches far beyond its own doors. In 2013, the school was one of only 11 medical schools across the nation selected for the American Medical Association’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative. This consortium of educational innovators is working with the AMA to pioneer and collectively accelerate cutting-edge changes in medical education.

###

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information,visit http://mayocl.in/1ohJTMS or http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/.

This article was originally published on the Mayo Clinic News Network on May 14, 2015.