AAMC Reporter: September 2009

Viewpoint: Community Partnerships a Beacon in Dark Economic Times

Deborah C. German, M.D., dean, University of Central Florida College of Medicine

As medical schools around the country suffer through budget cuts and other financial difficulties, among our many competing priorities we must preserve excellent academic experiences for our students.

At the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, our college of medicine opened with its first class of students on Aug. 3. When I am out in the community, I am sometimes asked how it feels to open a new medical school in such difficult times.

My answer is simple: I'm thrilled.

These difficult financial times present opportunities to change the way we do business, as well as opportunities to innovate and to create new models for education. Innovative partnerships are one approach to addressing economic challenges.

As a new research-based medical school, the UCF College of Medicine is using innovative partnerships to build a model for how medical schools can engage and enhance their communities. This model can be used to optimize all aspects of what we do.

UCF has created community partnerships that will provide scholarships—which will cover tuition, fees, and living expenses for four years—to all 40 members of our medical school's charter class. The scholarships were funded completely by nearly $7 million in broad-based community donations from across the Orlando area.

Although we are a new medical school, with the support and partnership of our community we are making our mark. For starters, we are the first medical school ever to provide full scholarships for four years to an entire class.

The AAMC reports that the average debt of a medical school graduate in 2008 was about $155,000. It did not take long for students to do the math and embrace the value UCF offers.

We received more than 4,300 applications for our 40 openings—a state record. Our ratio of 107.5 applications to every one position means UCF was more selective than many schools in the nation.

Another example of the partnership model can be found in our central Florida business and health care communities. The UCF medical school has become the hub of a life sciences cluster, known regionally as the Lake Nona "medical city," that is transforming our region's economy.

Situated five minutes from the Orlando International Airport, our partners include the California-based Burnham Institute for Medical Research, a VA hospital, Nemours Children's Hospital, and an M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Institute. (We are also partners with the existing hospital systems Orlando Health and Florida Hospital.) These partners are all building from scratch and creating unique collaborations that promise to make Orlando a destination for medical care and research while adding billions of dollars to the central Florida economy.

An economic impact report shows that, during a time when state governments around the country struggle with budget cuts and investment losses, the UCF College of Medicine and the Lake Nona medical cluster will help create more than 30,000 jobs and generate an economic impact of $7.6 billion in 2017. Furthermore, the medical cluster will generate nearly half a billion dollars in tax revenues for Florida.

Already, buildings are coming out of the ground and employees are being hired. About $2 billion worth of construction is already under way or has been committed to the medical city. This is not a hypothetical exercise in economic development—this is reality, and it is happening right now.

What is unfolding in Orlando is an example of the power of partnerships—public and private, state and local. Our partners at the medical city will offer our medical students the opportunity to learn from and work with some of the most talented physicians and researchers in the world.

We have recruited more that 800 volunteer faculty from our medial city partners and elsewhere in the community to help train and mentor our students. These same volunteers formed the seed from which our curriculum grew.

For a new medical school like ours, in an economy such as this, partnerships are not a luxury—they are a necessity. My hope is that our continued success will inspire others to create partnerships that can increase affordability and access for students and improve health care and economic opportunities in our communities.

By Deborah C. German, M.D., dean, University of Central Florida College of Medicine

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the AAMC or its members.