ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Medical School announced that its expansion plan to establish branch campuses in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jacksonville, Florida, has received the endorsement of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the national accrediting body for medical education. “We are thrilled with the positive response from LCME,” says Sherine Gabriel, M.D., M.Sc., (retiring) dean of Mayo Medical School and William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. “This signifies an important step in our transformation to a national medical school and our ability to deliver extraordinary medical education and highly diverse clinical experiences to our students across all campuses.” Originally established in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1972, Mayo Medical School is considered one of the most highly competitive medical schools in the country for admittance. Averaging over 4,700 applications per year, Mayo Medical School traditionally accepts only 50 students per enrolling class. With the opening of the Arizona campus in 2017, this will increase to 50 additional students per year. The expansion of the medical school is a natural next step in its mission to train highly skilled physicians. Notably, Mayo Medical School students routinely match to top residency programs across the country, and 80 percent — more than twice the national average — publish research manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Careful planning will maintain another important feature of the school — its high faculty-to-single student ratio. MEDIA CONTACT: Deborah Anderson, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Mayo Medical School announced that its planned expansion in Scottsdale, has received licensure by the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the group responsible for regulating private postsecondary degree-granting institutions within the state of Arizona. “This is a major milestone in our journey to open a full four-year branch campus of Mayo Medical School in Scottsdale,” says Wyatt Decker, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Earlier this month, Mayo Medical School leaders announced they had also received endorsement for the expansion from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body for medical education. While many experts wonder if medical schools across the country are doing enough to prepare graduates for the challenges of an evolving health care system, Dr. Decker notes that the medical school — planned to open in 2017 — won’t rest on conventional physician training. “The reality is that most medical schools are teaching the same way they did 100 years ago,” Dr. Decker said in a recent Wall Street Journal article. “It’s time to blow up that model and ask, ‘What must we do to train tomorrow’s doctors?’” MEDIA CONTACT: Jim McVeigh, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 480-301-4222, mcveigh.jim@mayo.edu
