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New Academic Medical Center Planned for Downtown Las Vegas New Task Force Hopes to Strengthen Chairs Roles as Institutional Managers
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New Academic Medical Center Planned for Downtown Las Vegas
Las Vegas is home to the world's largest gaming industry center, the country's fastest-growing suburbs, and perhaps the largest number of hasty weddings and even hastier divorces per capita. But few people know Las Vegas is also one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States without an academic medical center. That will change soon, if Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has his way. The establishment of such a facility has become a priority of his administration, and a proposal to build an academic medical center is now under review for a downtown Las Vegas site. The new medical center would feature a school of medicine, a school of pharmacy, a cancer institute, a school of dentistry, research facilities, and administrative offices. The center would be built on one part of a 61-acre site the mayor has made available for the project. Besides the academic medical center, a performing arts center and sports stadium are also planned for the location. "The support we have received from the city, specifically from the mayor's office and from City Council, has been incredible," said Robert H. Miller, M.D., professor of surgery at the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM) and a point person for this project. "The mayor is a wonderful cheerleader and a great spokesperson." UNSOM and the city of Las Vegas have hired consultants to examine the project's financial feasibility. The construction of an academic medical center is costly, and in this case, initial financing could surpass $50 million. "This will depend a lot on philanthropy," said UNSOM Dean Stephen McFarlane, Ph.D., adding that some people have already been "identified as being interested in [donating funds] to the initial development." The school is also analyzing the area's clinical needs to determine what new services and programs to develop. "We are looking at things such as the identified needs in our community, the strengths of our medical school, and strengths we might want to develop," Dr. McFarlane said. April will be a crucial month for the project. "As it looks now, we should have a development agreement before City Council by April," said Lesa Coder, director of the Las Vegas Office of Business Development and president of City Parkway IV and V, Inc., two corporations that were set up to establish businesses on the 61 reserved acres. "That will be followed by a presentation and, hopefully, the approval by the State Board of Regents by the end of the month." The arrival of an academic medical center would do wonders for the region, according to Coder. "Folks in this area will have access to at-home services, something which might otherwise be sought in other states," she said. "This would bring many economic gains to the region, in addition to the convenience to our residents." Based on the experience of other large academic medical centers in the country, the long-term effects of this enterprise can be dramatic in both economic and academic development terms, Coder explained. "The center would provide a campus large enough to meet the needs of medical academic pursuits for the next 30 years," she said. "This would bring doctors with high levels of specialization and expertise and would spur the development of medical technology and research, essentially furthering the clinical aspects of such a teaching facility." Construction of the center would be the next "logical developmental step" the school of medicine would take, according to Dr. McFarlane. "The school has grown to the point where it needs to expand its programs and services," he said. Nevada's medical school was established in 1969 as a two-year medical school, and has graduated more than one thousand physicians. In 1978, it became a four-year M.D.-granting institution, with medical students doing part of their clinical work in Las Vegas. In the 1980s, the school developed residency programs in Reno and Las Vegas based on the health care needs of each region. Las Vegas has family practice, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, and surgery residencies. Reno has family practice, internal medicine, and psychiatry residencies. The new academic medical center would help fill the gap for patient care services in a state with a burgeoning population. Las Vegas ranked as the metropolitan area with the highest population change in the 2000 Census. In April 1990, the city's population was less than one million (852,737). By April 2000, the population of Las Vegas had surpassed 1.5 million, constituting an 83.3 percent change. The population of the state of Nevada has also increased by more than 66 percent since 1990, according to the 2000 Census. |
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