School of Medicine

Frequently Asked Questions

The following commonly asked questions and answers are intended to provide the campus and community with key information about the proposed School of Medicine. Additional questions may be submitted to Kathy Barton at kathryn.barton@ucr.edu.

• What does it mean to be a University of California medical school?
• What approvals are needed to establish a medical school at UCR?
• What is the status of planning for the UCR medical school?
• When is the medical school anticipated to open and what will be the enrollment?
• How will having a school of medicine benefit the rest of the campus?
• What is the status of the dean search?
• Where will the medical school be built?
• Are there still plans for a Surge building? Will the School of Medicine faculty have lab space in this building? If so, for how long?
• How will the proposed medical school be funded?
• Will state funds allocated for general campus schools and colleges be used for the School of Medicine?
• How are the planning efforts for the medical school being funded?
• How will the medical school fund faculty salaries?
• Who pays for the malpractice insurance for the clinical faculty who are providing care and training students in clinical settings?
• What is a distributed clinical model of medical education?
• What is the status of the Health Sciences Research Institute director search? Will there be new faculty lines designated for HSRI or will the Colleges be asked to designate faculty lines for HSRI?

What does it mean to be a University of California medical school?
Each of the University of California's five medical schools has the tripartite mission of medical education, research and clinical service that is aligned with UC's overall mission of teaching, research and public service.

What approvals are needed to establish a medical school at UCR?
Following consideration of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate, the proposal would go forward to the systemwide Academic Council, the University of California Office of the President, the Board of Regents, and the state legislature through a funding request. There will also be a review by the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

What is the status of planning for the UCR medical school?
The UC Board of Regents in November 2006 reviewed UCR's preliminary proposal and authorized the campus to proceed with planning for the school. An executive team, led by Acting Chancellor Robert Grey, is overseeing all planning aspects for the school of medicine. A proposed curriculum has been submitted to the UCR Academic Senate for review. Additionally, a working draft of the medical school proposal has recently been circulated for feedback. The draft proposal was developed by six work groups facilitated by a team from Deloitte Consulting.

When is the medical school anticipated to open and what will be the enrollment?
Current plans call for the medical school to accept its first four-year class of 50 medical students in fall of 2012. At full build-out, plans call for total enrollment of 400 medical students, or 100 per class.

How will having a school of medicine benefit the rest of the campus?
The presence of a medical school can help enrich the academic climate of a campus, creating new, diverse opportunities for research collaborations across disciplines. A medical school can also be a powerful stimulus for bringing to a campus additional research funds and for attracting new industry to collaborate in health-related research. A graduate component is also being planned for the medical school, which will contribute to campus aspirations to increase graduate school enrollment.

What is the status of the dean search?
The search for a founding dean was temporarily suspended by Acting Chancellor Grey. This will allow the search for a new UCR chancellor to get underway and the proposal to be completed. The search will be re-launched in 2008.

Where will the medical school be built?
UCR's Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) designates the West Campus for development of graduate and professional schools and other uses such as housing and recreational facilities. Initial planning is underway for the proposed medical school to be located at the northeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Are there still plans for a Surge building? Will the School of Medicine faculty have lab space in this building? If so, for how long?
Yes, there are plans for a surge building to be built and utilized by faculty and staff of various schools and colleges, including the School of Medicine. Additionally, plans call for the space currently utilized by the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Biomedical Sciences Program to be renovated to accommodate the early stages of programmatic growth. Capital plans include an initial School of Medicine instructional and research building to be completed by 2015, when the portion of the surge building utilized for medical school purposes reverts to general campus use.

How will the proposed medical school be funded?
The proposed medical school would be funded from a variety of sources, including state funds, education fees paid by students enrolled in the school, revenue from clinical services, contracts and grants, and private gifts and endowments.

Will state funds allocated for general campus schools and colleges be used for the School of Medicine?
Enrollment-driven state funding is allocated separately to support budgets for general campus schools and colleges and budgets for the health sciences. For example, funding allocated to the general campus for faculty FTE cannot be reallocated to the health sciences and vice versa. Student enrollment in the medical school will generate both the faculty FTE and enrollment-generated state funds for the medical school.

How are the planning efforts for the medical school being funded?
UCR was awarded a $5 million grant from UnitedHealth Group, funding which is supporting current planning activities.

How will the medical school fund faculty salaries?
In the case of public medical schools, faculty salaries are generally funded from a variety of sources, such as State General Funds, grants and contracts, revenue from the patient care services, endowed professorships, and private funds. For planning purposes, faculty salaries in the UCR medical school are based on the average salaries at the five UC medical schools.

Who pays for the malpractice insurance for the clinical faculty who are providing care and training students in clinical settings?
The medical school will fund the malpractice insurance premiums for UC Riverside-employed faculty.

What is a distributed clinical model of medical education?
The distributed clinical model of medical education means that UCR will collaborate with existing healthcare facilities and professionals in the region to train students. This also means that there are no plans to build a university hospital.

What is the status of the Health Sciences Research Institute director search? Will there be new faculty lines designated for HSRI or will the Colleges be asked to designate faculty lines for HSRI?
The search for a founding director of the Health Sciences Research Institute will resume when campus planning for a new surge building is further along. The HSRI will be seeded with 11 faculty lines from central resources. It is also anticipated that faculty from various departments will desire joint appointments in the institute, which will be arranged on an individual basis.