By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The University of Kentucky College of Medicine announced Monday that it plans to develop a regional medical school campus in Northern Kentucky for four-year medical education.
The Northern Kentucky campus is envisioned to help alleviate the shortage of physicians in the region and the Commonwealth and provide opportunities for area students to attend medical school close to home.
University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said a regional medical school in Northern Kentucky will help make the commonwealth a healthier place to live (photos by Mark Hansel).
The campus is a collaboration between St. Elizabeth Healthcare, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, and Northern Kentucky University.
Representatives for all of the partners provided details about why the collaboration is necessary and how it will work and gave a tentative timeline for when medical students in Northern Kentucky could begin classes.
University of Kentucky President Dr. Eli Capilouto said the regional medical school campus will help create a healthier Kentucky.
“We are out of room in Lexington, to expand we are doing it through partnerships,” Capilouto said. “We are capitalizing on a wonderful partnership with partners who offer a great education and great health care.”
The program is the third regional medical school campus announced by UK. Four-year regional campuses have been proposed in Bowling Green and Morehead. The goal is for Bowling Green to begin enrolling students in 2018 and Morehead sometime after that.
Capilouto said the regional campuses will have a positive impact on patients as well as students and the health care community.
“We know that physicians train close to where they grew up, they tend to return to where they know their families and friends,” Capilouto said. “They are taught by people who understand their values, their culture, their particular situation.”
Dr. Robert DiPaola, dean of the UK School of Medicine said the goal is to enroll about 30 students each year at the Northern Kentucky regional medial school campus.
Dr. Robert DiPaola, dean of the UK College of Medicine, did not have exact numbers but estimates about a third of the students currently enrolled in the School of Medicine are from Kentucky.
About 40 percent of those enrolled end up going through their teaching and training in the Commonwealth. Of those who go on to do additional training elsewhere, approximately 60 percent come back to Kentucky to practice.
Or, as DiPaola says, “We have a significant number that are originally from Kentucky and a significant number that will come back to Kentucky.”
Currently, the UK College of Medicine enrolls 547 students including 139 in the most recent admitted class ̶ the Class of 2020.
DiPaola said details have to be worked out, but the goal is to enroll approximately 30 students each year in Northern Kentucky, meaning 120 students or more could be enrolled in UK Medical School in Northern Kentucky when the program begins to rate students into the field. There is a lot to do in preparation to get to that stage, however, in terms of planning.
“The plan is a full four year medical school with appropriate curriculum,” DiPaola said. “Obviously those students will have interests in a number of different areas that fill the needs of the state and the nation, which include primary care, but could also include many subspecialty area.”
Details are still being worked out, but preparations are underway, with a goal of having the first Northern Kentucky class begin in two years.
NKU President Geoffrey Mearns said there will be preferred slots for NKU students at the UK regional medical school campus.
NKU President Geoffrey Mearns said it is an exciting time for the university’s students, who will have an opportunity to engage in an interprofessional way with UK medical students.
“It fills a hole that we had in our comprehensive health care professional programs and it will also provide an opportunity for our undergraduate students who want to go to medical school,” Mearns said. “There will be preferred slots for them in the UK Branch Medical Campus, so our students who want to become medical students will have that opportunity as well.”
Capilouto said regional campuses are a more efficient and effective way to expand the UK College of Medicine, without sacrificing its standards.
“We are taking advantage of facilities that are available, excellent professors, excellent clinicians that will be part of our teaching force, so we are able to that with less dollars than it would take to do it in Lexington,” Capilouto said. “Some of that is going to be through electronic or digital means. The quality of the curriculum will be the same and there is an excellent medical staff at St. Elizabeth Healthcare and learning from people who are in the front lines every day treating patients provides a top-notch experience.”
Much of the on-campus training will take place at the $105 million NKU Health Innovation Center, which is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion next year.
The cost for students will be the same as for those at the UK College of Medicine in Lexington.
St. Elizabeth Healthcare President and CEO Garren Colvin said the UK regional medical school campus fits Northern Kentucky “like a glove.”
“It’s a pretty steep tuition,” Capilouto said. “We are doing our best to keep it down, we are not turning to the state for any new resources to do this. It’s a healthy cost to students and their families.”
St. Elizabeth Healthcare President and CEO Garren Colvin explained the framework of education for a UK Medical School student in Northern Kentucky.
“The first two years, which are called M1 and M2 are instructional classwork years,” Colvin said. “M3 and M4 are your clinical years where you are in a clinical setting. Years three and four will take place in the hospital for acute care clinical practices and in the field on the ambulatory care side students will be in the physicians’ offices and in the community.”
St. Elizabeth Healthcare invested $8 million Health Innovation Center and the Kentucky General Assembly allocated the remaining amount. Colvin served on the Health Innovation Center group that Mearns brought together to design what would be located within the Health Innovation Center and this was in his mind from the beginning.
“In the Health Innovation Center we knew we knew we were going to develop undergraduate programs to meet the needs of the community and also help to develop potential medical students,” Colvin said. “I was always trying to promote this as a vision for the Center as well. To be honest this just happened a lot faster than probably we originally expected in those meetings, but we are very excited and, to me, it fits like a glove.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
