The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) will be sending a team to Fresno on March 6, 2002 to study the success of the University of California San Francisco, Fresno Medical Education Programs’ regional medical school campus. The purpose of the study is to understand the structure, organization, operations and management of US medical schools’ regional campuses. UCSF Fresno is one of only ten medical school programs nationwide asked to participate in the study and the only regional campus selected in California.
“We have been asked to participate in this prestigious study because UCSF Fresno has built a national reputation as a provider of quality educational services and innovative programs,” said Deborah Stewart, MD, and UCSF Fresno Professor of Pediatrics. “By being highlighted in this study, UCSF Fresno will help shape how doctors of the future are educated.”
There is a lot of interest in models of medical education in which communities and universities join together to train community-oriented physicians. The AAMC noted that they were particularly interested in UCSF Fresno’s model program of training third and fourth year medical students because of the comprehensiveness of the program including the Doctor’s Academy at Sunnyside High School, medical school and resident training, continuing medical education, its affiliation with a top medical school (UCSF) and the collaboration of community partners such as Community Medical Systems, Children’s Hospital of Central California, Veteran’s Administration Hospital and the Central California Faculty Medical Group.
UCSF Fresno operates a regional medical school campus—training more than 200 third and fourth year medical students annually. A regional medical school campus is defined by its geographic distance from the mother institution by a minimum of 25 miles. In addition, it must be directed by a dean that reports to a central dean. UCSF Fresno’s mother institution is UCSF. Deborah Stewart, MD, is the associate dean of UCSF Fresno; she reports to Haile Debas, MD, and dean of the UCSF School of Medicine.
“UCSF Fresno has been nationally recognized for taking students out of the classroom and putting them into the community,” said Haile Debas, MD. “Medical students are very interested in the Fresno program because they get hands-on exposure to a wide diversity of cultures, ethnicities and community specific health problems.”
The ten regional medical schools selected for the national AAMC study are located in Savannah, Georgia; Fresno, California; Huntsville, Alabama; Camden, New Jersey; Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Binghamton, New York; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Charleston, West Virginia.
The AAMC is the national organization of all medical schools that creates the standards for medical education. It comprises all US and Canadian medical schools, teaching hospitals, academic and professional societies representing 100,000 faculty members, and all US medical students and residents.
Note to editors: For more information about the site visit, or to contact the AAMC team traveling to Fresno call Cara Peracchi Douglas at 559.243.3606.
