{"id":324725,"date":"2026-05-20T15:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324725\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T15:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:48:13","slug":"santa-clara-university-sutter-health-partner-for-new-21st-century-medical-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/324725\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara University, Sutter Health Partner for New 21st Century Medical School"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mood was celebratory, emotional and most of all hopeful May 15, when Santa Clara University and Sutter Health announced their new partnership to build the first new California medical school in a century<\/a>, the Mark and Mary Stevens School of Medicine. The school will be next door to Sutter\u2019s West Santa Clara medical center \u2014 and Sutter\u2019s future hospital \u2014 and about 5 miles from SCU\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every day that you get to do something that hasn\u2019t been done in more than a hundred years,\u201d said Sutter President and CEO Warner Thomas. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty incredible. What better place to have a medical school than on a new flagship campus in the heart of Silicon Valley, than is the home of where AI is changing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school was made possible by a $175 million donation from venture capitalist Mark Stevens and his wife Mary, noted education philanthropists who have pledged to give away a large part of their fortune.<\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

\"BrainShare\"BrainShare<\/a><\/p>\n

The Stevens\u2019 past donations to SCU include nearly $40 million for athletics facilities and programs, the Locatelli Student Activity Center, and an endowed scholarship. Their support of Sutter Health includes contributions to expand cancer care and a mental health app for teens and young adults.<\/p>\n

Integrated medical education is the animating idea behind the partnership between the medical group and the university: Integration with other SCU education programs, integration with clinical practice, and, recognizing the growing importance of AI in medical care, integration with SCU\u2019s Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence and Human Potential.<\/p>\n

SCU president Julie Sullivan stressed the medical school\u2019s role in the university\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

\"VTA\"VTA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe partnership between Sutter Health and Santa Clara University is among the first of its kind,\u201d she said, \u201cbringing together a nationally recognized healthcare system and a leading national Jesuit Catholic University. Our new partnership will prepare doctors for the healthcare future that\u2019s unfolding, not the one that has passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school has been in the making since 2013, when SCU included it in the university\u2019s long-term strategic plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current healthcare system, as good as it is, is not adequately prepared to serve the needs of our country\u2019s growing, aging, and multicultural population,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cAt the same time, artificial intelligence and other technological advances are penetrating the healthcare sector faster and deeper than any other sector in our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. needs 100,000 more physicians, and California faces a shortage of roughly 37,000 over the next five to seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixty percent of Californians that go to medical school leave the state,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cThe likelihood that those folks are coming back to practice is very low, because 70% of physicians stay within 70 miles of where they finish their training. That\u2019s why we started in graduate medical education.\u201d<\/p>\n

SCU public health student Setayesh Assadzadeh, who plans to become an MD, described how caring for her father during the COVID pandemic led her to think about healthcare as care of a whole person \u2014 not just administering medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my dad became ill, I stepped into a caregiving role and had to navigate a healthcare system I didn\u2019t fully understand,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw how quickly responsibilities shift; how overwhelming care can become both for the patient and for the entire family. That experience is what drew me to study public health at Santa Clara University. I learned that health is not just shaped by biology, but by social drivers, by whether care fits into people\u2019s everyday lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

That perspective deepened during an internship at Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the pediatric ICU, I saw a lot of children relying on feeding tubes,\u201d she said. \u201cI kept coming back to one question: What happens to those kids when they go home? I learned that many families were expected to continue care in ways that didn\u2019t always fit into their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience led Assadzadeh to think about designing care that could better support patients after they left the hospital \u2014 and to develop a concept for a pediatric feeding device.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that medicine isn\u2019t just about knowledge,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about building solutions that work in real life. As Santa Clara and Sutter Health build this future medical school, I\u2019m excited about the possibility of contributing to a medical community that values innovation, compassion and human connection. Because that\u2019s the kind of physician I want to become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carolyn Schuk can be reached at carolyn@santaclaraweekly.com.<\/p>\n

Related Posts:
Sutter Health Opens Doors at New Facility on Mission College Boulevard in Santa Clara<\/a>
Sutter Health To Open Two Santa Clara Clinics<\/a><\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

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