National and local leaders meet for proposed Arizona medical school
Posted: April 21, 2006MESA, Ariz. (Apr. 21, 2006 ) – National and local leaders in the fields of business, technology, and medical education have began convening for a series of quarterly meetings for discussion and vital input into the proposed medical school to be opened by A.T. Still University in Fall 2007 in Mesa, Arizona. Three “Blue-Ribbon” Committees in business, medical education and technology have been appointed with influential leaders on a national and local level. The first of these meetings was held March 24 by the Business Blue Ribbon Committee. On May 18-19 national experts in various segments of medical education will convene for the Medical Education Blue Ribbon Committee meeting in Scottsdale.
A.T. Still University, founder of the nation’s first osteopathic medical school in 1892, is developing a medical school of the future that will implement an innovative educational model never used before in a U.S. medical school. An estimated 100 physicians will graduate from the school beginning in 2011. ATSU has selected a nationally recognized leader in the field of medical education, Dr. Douglas Wood, as the Dean of the proposed medical school.
Dr. Wood previously served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) for 10 years and has led the educational efforts of the osteopathic medical profession during that period. He has received numerous grants to study medical education, including the $7.6 million Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century grant from 1997 to 2002. Dr. Wood was also dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University.
“We are delighted to have someone of Dr. Wood’s stature leading the new school,” said Craig Phelps, D.O., FAOASM, provost of ATSU-Mesa. “With his strong leadership and our experts on the Blue-Ribbon Panel Committee we will design an efficient medical school of the future that produces physicians that will treat the patient as a whole person, not just their symptoms.”
Many prominent Arizona business leaders are represented on the Business Blue-Ribbon Committee, including: Raymond A. Lamb, CEO of 1st National Bank of Arizona; Kent McClelland, President of Shamrock Foods; Reginald Ballantyne, III, Senior Corporate Officer for Abrazo Health Care, and Robert Uhl, Vice Chair of Bar-S Foods.
A.T. Still University has already demonstrated success with innovative technology and an advanced academic curriculum influenced by a Blue-Ribbon Committee when developing Arizona’s only dental school, the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health, opened in 2003. The first class will graduate May 19, 2007.
For more information about the Blue Ribbon Committees or the proposed medical school, contact Rodric Bradford, director of public relations for the Arizona School of Health Sciences at 480.219.6015 or rbradford@atsu.edu.