Why is a new medical school needed when many good schools have global health tracks?

First of all, physicians are needed within the U.S. and many of our graduates will practice in economically depressed communities here. The Association of American Medical Colleges in 2016 projected a shortage of 61,000 to 94,700 physicians by 2025.

Secondly more physicians are needed worldwide. For example, to care for Sierra Leone’s six million residents during the recent Ebola outbreak there were only 136 domestic doctors. Economic development in low- and middle-income countries is dependent on health care. For example, it has been estimated that $12.3 trillion will be lost from these countries by 2030 without urgent investment in anesthesia and surgical care. Per the World Bank, $10 would be returned for every $1 invested in health care.

Finally, our school will have a singular and unique focus on global health with the following characteristics:

1. The combination of traditional medical school teaching on how to care for an individual with that of that taught in schools of public health where your goal is improving the health of populations.
2. As we raise our endowment we will dedicate a significant portion of it for scholarships. These will be awarded in return for a commitment to practice in a low-resource setting for a period of time. A student with the burden of educational debt can’t afford to practice in these locations.
3. We plan to improve global health education both “upstream and “downstream” by helping area liberal arts colleges start undergraduate concentrations in global health and supporting global health fellowships that come after medical school. For example one of our board members, Dr. Thomas Burke, has one in Kenya now.
4. In a more “horizontal” fashion we plan to reach out to other organizations in the global health space in synergistic relationships. For example Indiana ranks highly in biosciences and we would like to work with pharma and medical device companies to develop products useful in low-resource settings. This would have the “halo” effect of economic development in whatever community we end up in.