brunoflipper
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« on: February 12, 2008, 08:08:05 am » |
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Thank You Mr. Kaiser A four year school and a 6 yr fast track...
"OU-Tulsa gets $50 million gift
By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer 2/12/2008 Last Modified: 2/12/2008 12:55 AM
The Kaiser family donation for community medicine aims at better health care for the underserved.
Tulsa will be the home of the nation's first School of Community Medicine, aimed at improving the dire health status of underserved Oklahomans by producing doctors dedicated to that purpose.
The George Kaiser Family Foundation has donated $50 million to the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa for the school, the largest cash donation ever made to OU, said Dr. Gerry Clancy, OU-Tulsa president.
"This is a declaration of our ex plicit commitment to the health of our community," he said.
The College of Medicine at OU-Tulsa will formally be renamed the OU School of Community Medicine, which will "guide medical students into areas of care which impact lower-income families and others who have limited access to quality medical care," OU President David Boren said in a press release.
"It will not concentrate on basic scientific research but on clinical outreach to those who desperately need care," he said.
Of the $50 million donation, $35 million will be used to endow -- and perpetually fund -- 35 faculty chairs in the OU School of Community Medicine, bringing the number of full-time faculty members to 221, Clancy said.
By law, the state is expected to match that $35 million, bringing the endowment funding to $70 million and the total economic impact for northeastern Oklahoma to $85 million.
The school also will create 1,600 new jobs for the region, Clancy said. The new educational track will start this fall with a goal of enrolling 70 students per class by the fall of 2011, he said. When fully implemented, the OU School of Community Medicine will have an overall enrollment of 280, which includes 140 third- and fourth-year medical students at OU-Tulsa. There also will be 50 physi cian assistant students and 251 resident and fellow physicians.
The OU College of Medicine in Tulsa has 80 third- and fourth-year medical students, 201 residents and 186 faculty members.
Of the remaining money, $7.5 million will be used to recruit faculty and develop infrastructure, Clancy said.
"This is a major expansion. There will be more students and a change in size of services," Clancy said. "Most importantly, there will be a change in the pipeline from recruit to practicing physician."
An undergraduate fast-track program will be developed to allow a student to complete college and medical school in less than eight years, he said.
"This gift also will allow us to expand our residency programs to include internal medicine, surgery and pediatric fellowships that match with public health needs in cancer, cardiology, diabetes, child psychiatry and preventive medicine," Clancy said.
While OU-Tulsa's College of Medicine is known for its public health work, this change will further solidify the school's mission, he said.
Students will be selected for both academics and dedication to serving at-risk and underserved populations.
"We will have a central theme of community engagement, and we will actively seek out students from across the country who plan to stay in Oklahoma to practice community medicine," Clancy said.
Instead of starting off with anatomy classes, students at OU School of Community Medicine will begin their edu cations learning about the needs of low-income and at-risk residents, he said.
"We want to feed off their altruism rather than put a fire hose on it," Clancy said.
Medical students' choice of specialty often is influenced by the massive debt they have acquired while in school, Clancy said.
So the school will funnel $7.5 million of the funds into scholarships and a loan forgiveness program for students enrolled in the OU School of Community Medicine who provide medical care to underserved rural and urban areas after graduation, he said.
"We want students to be able to choose a specialty, not driven by their loan burden, but driven by their heart," Clancy said."
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