By Julia Gardiner
The University announced plans on Tuesday to establish the first new medical school in New York State since 1963. President Stuart Rabinowitz and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Healthcare System (NS-LIJ) President and CEO Michael J. Dowling met at 2 p.m. in the University Club to announce their partnership in developing the School of Medicine.
“This is an important day for Hofstra University and for all of Long Island,” Rabinowitz said. The decision to establish the school comes after a 2006 recommendation by the Association of American Medical Colleges that enrollment in medical schools should increase 30 percent by 2015.
Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions completed a survey of 83 medical school admissions officers in early September. Fourty-two percent of the officers said their institutions are seriously considering increasing the number of seats available for incoming students. Out of that 42 percent, 19 percent said such an expansion could result in between 15 and 20 percent more available seats.
In the same survey, a majority of respondents said the most important factors for admission to medical school are a student’s MCAT scores and undergraduate GPA. It is likely those standards will be the most considered in applicants to the University’s School of Medicine.
Dowling emphasized the necessity of the joint nature of the project, referring to it as a “marriage.”
“We are not just doing this to do it,” Dowling said. “We are doing this to fill a need.”
The president of the University lauded the benefits of opening such a facility in the area. “The establishment of a new medical school brings new research and cutting-edge scholarship to our campus, provides our region with better health care resources and allows Hofstra University’s standing in the international academic community to continue to grow,” Rabinowitz said.
The proposed school is classified as an allopathic medical school, referring to the teaching of traditional medicine as opposed to alternative medicine, and is the first ever in Nassau County.
Both NS-LIJ and the University will provide faculty for the school. “North Shore-LIJ offers a vast array of clinical programs and services that already provide about 1,100 medical residents and fellows with extraordinary learning experiences at our teaching hospitals,” said Lawrence G. Smith, MD, chief medical officer of the NS-LIJ Health System in an interview with University representatives.
The University has begun the process of accreditation, which entails a program registration with the New York State Education Department’s Office of College and University Evaluation and the Board of Regents, and an accreditation with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Ideally, the charter class of the medical school would be about 30 students enrolling in September of 2010 or 2011.
The University will also begin a search for a founding dean of the school in conjunction with NS-LIJ. The dean will work closely with Rabinowitz as well as clinical and academic officials in LIJ in developing the academic foundations of the school and pursuing accreditation. “Our partnership with a renowned institution such as the North Shore-LIJ Health System will ensure that the Hofstra School of Medicine, once established, will have excellent clinical training and extensive resources from the outset,” Rabinowitz said.
A School of Medicine will be constructed on 11 acres of the University’s north campus near Charles Lindbergh Boulevard. The site will include a new academic facility as well as residence halls for medical students.
In addition to campus facilities, students will have the opportunity to study in NS-LIJ Health System’s affiliate hospitals such as Nassau University Medical Center, which presents a unique opportunity to benefit the community. “Students from a new Hofstra Medical School would have an unparalleled opportunity to work with the population served by Nassau University Medical Center,” said president and CEO Arthur Gianelli in an interview with University officials. “Our health clinics and the economically disadvantaged population served by those clinics would also benefit greatly from these medical students.”
University President Stuart Rabinowitz officially announces the opening of a medical school at the University, which should welcome a charter class in the fall of 2011.
This map shows the area on the University campus where the proposed medical school will be built. It will occupy an 11 acre tract of land behind the parking lot adjacent to the Recreation Center. The land is currently vacant. Medical students will have classes in on-campus facilities as well as the opportunity to attend NS-LIJ teaching hospitals in the area. (University Relations)
Michael Dowling discusses the details of the partnership between the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Healthcare System and the University.