A new medical school announced Friday \u2014 the Bay Area\u2019s first in more than a century \u2014 aims to help remedy California\u2019s shortage of doctors and programs to train them.<\/p>\n
The Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine at Santa Clara University will be funded by a $175 million donation announced Friday from billionaire venture capitalist Mark Stevens and his wife Mary Stevens, a 1984 Santa Clara University alum and university Board of Trustees member. Sutter Health will also partner with the university in the development of the school.<\/p>\n
The project comes at a time when more physicians are desperately needed in California, the couple said in an interview with Bay Area News Group.<\/p>\n
An estimated 7 million Californians live in areas without adequate access to primary, dental or mental healthcare providers, according to data from the California Future Health Workforce Commission, a statewide group of leaders aimed at improving California\u2019s health workforce.<\/p>\n
That statewide shortage of healthcare providers is further exacerbated by the \u201csilver tsunami\u201d of aging Californians who are more reliant on health and social services, with data showing 1 in 5 of Californian residents will be 65 or older by 2040.<\/p>\n
But California doesn\u2019t currently have enough medical education and residency capacity to meet that long-term demand, said Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than half of physicians who complete residency training ultimately practice in the state where they trained and California continues to face significant physician training capacity challenges,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
California\u2019s medical school enrollment is the third lowest in the country, ranking 43rd among the 46 states with medical schools<\/a>, according to data from the University of California.<\/p>\n Facing a lack of available medical school seats and residency programs, about 60% of Californians looking to pursue a medical degree have to move to other states for medical school<\/a>, the California Future Health Workforce Commission says, meaning California\u2019s public and private health systems must compete to lure them back.<\/p>\n Thomas said that\u2019s why Santa Clara\u2019s new medical school is needed now more than ever.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is all about keeping people in California \u2026 This is all building a pipeline, building an ecosystem of physicians who can come into our residencies and fellowships and then stay at Sutter Health and stay in California,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of students, we just don\u2019t have the positions in medical school or in residencies to train them.\u201d<\/p>\n