Reaching out
At a ceremony marking the opening of the new Phoenix campus for the University of Arizona medical school on Oct. 10, UofA President Robert Shelton reaches out across his predecessor, Peter Likens, to shake hands with Arizona State University President Michael Crow. Senate President Ken Bennett provided the laughs, as he sang “ASU and UofA” to the tune of “Ebony and Ivory.” The two universities collaborated on the new campus.

University officials and lawmakers alike lauded the downtown Phoenix medical school at its dedication Oct. 10, saying it was the first step in solving a doctor shortage that has become increasingly a focal point for politicians in recent years, but some legislator say it won’t be a solution by itself.
Governor Napolitano said the opening of the University of Arizona College of Medicine campus in Phoenix is one of the best things that could happen for the state.
“We have needed for quite some time a public medical school in Maricopa County, which focuses on the most advanced type of medicine out there,” she said. “The students that graduate from this school are going to be the doctors of tomorrow.”
However, some lawmakers say the new school won’t be a panacea for the problems the state has in providing adequate health care, especially in rural areas. Rep. Doug Quelland, R-10, says the bigger problem is not educating doctors, but ensuring they stay in state and practice their craft once their education is complete.
Lawmaker: ‘A bunch of hooey’
“For them to say that this [new school] is the answer, that is a bunch of hooey!” he said. “It’s a good start, but 100 [new] doctors isn’t going to do it — it’s not enough.
The problem, he says, is that only about a quarter of the medical school students in the state — about 400 a year total, from the UofA’s Tucson campus and private medical schools Midwestern and Steele — do their residencies here.
“Doctors will sometimes stay where they do their residency, because that’s where they put down roots,” he said. “That’s where they get married, buy houses, have families.”
Rep. Phil Lopes, D-27, disagrees with Mr. Quelland’s stats about how many medical school graduates do their residencies in Arizona, but he agrees that the residency programs need a boost if the downtown school is to make a dent in the doctor shortage.
“We have to fill the residency slots [we have] now with Arizona graduates and/or increase the number of slots,” Mr. Lopes said, adding that many of the residency positions are filled by out-of-state graduates.
He also said the state needs to do more to encourage graduates and medical residents to serve in areas of high need — like rural parts of the state — by giving incentives. One such way the state does that, he said, is a loan repayment program in which the state subsidizes a portion of the doctor’s medical school loans if he or she agrees to practice in underserved areas for three years.
But, Mr. Lopes said, lawmakers have not done much to increase the size or scope of the program in recent years.
“The Legislature has been unwilling, since I’ve been there, to put more money in [this] program,” he said.
Mr. Quelland also said he doesn’t think the Legislature has any responsibility to continue funding the new medical school because lawmakers haven’t been involved in the decision-making process thus far in the school’s creation.
“We don’t owe them anything,” he said. “They need to come and show us what they want…and how much it will cost. We will ask them questions.”
However, Mr. Lopes said the economic impact of the new medical school is a “powerful agent” for encouraging future funding. Besides, he said, it’s the state’s responsibility to continue to pay for it now that the project has moved from concept to reality.
“It doesn’t make sense, it’s not logical, but there’s people in the Legislature who think we can do that stuff — spend money and then not spend any more,” he said. “They’ve made real progress. The buildings are remodeled…the buildings are ready for students.”
The new medical school is located near Fifth and Van Buren streets, on the former site of Phoenix Union High School. The city of Phoenix gave about $28 million and 13 acres of land for the project and the Legislature kicked in $13 million.
The first class of 24 students will begin in July, and 17 faculty members have already been hired to develop a curriculum.
When the school is fully completed, it will graduate 150 doctors a year. Plans presented last fall to a legislative oversight committee call for the state to fund about $15 million for the school through fiscal year 2009. From fiscal year 2010 onward, the plans call for $49 million a year in state funding, constituting about 80 percent of the school’s budget. The remainder would be raised by Arizona State University and the UofA, largely through grant programs.
By way of comparison, the UofA medical school in Tucson, which graduates 110 doctors each year, received about $62.5 million in the current fiscal year.
Arizona Capitol Times intern Samantha Sanchez contributed to this story.