Med school momentum

Press-Enterprise 5/16/07

France Córdova's exit from UC Riverside for Purdue University should not stall plans for a new medical school. As the University of California searches for a new Riverside chancellor, it is vital that civic leaders take active steps to keep the medical school on track.

Maintaining robust community support for the school is paramount for its eventual completion. So until the medical school has a new public face in a dean or a campus chancellor, Inland civic and business leaders need to spur momentum. They should continue lobbying state legislators for funding, and keep the community abreast of progress.

Even with a new chancellor and dean, community leaders need to keep working cooperatively and speak with one voice in pushing the project forward. Establishing the medical school is a 15-year, $1.3 billion endeavor. Already, UCR has raised nearly $30 million for the school. But securing another $1 billion requires steadfast coordination to woo support from business, philanthropy and government.

Truth is, the need for this project to succeed transcends any person, campus or city. A UC advisory group in 2001 reported that California faces a shortage of 17,000 medical doctors by 2015, including at least 1,140 physicians in Inland Southern California. A UCR med school, which could admit students as early as 2012, would ease the doctor deficit.

Inland leaders have a rare chance at founding an institution that would enhance the area's health care, lure jobs and transform the region's quality of life. UCR officials are working hard on the med school. But at this crucial moment of transition, community leaders need to be in the vanguard, ensuring that the project does not falter.