UA College of Medicine History Includes Partnerships in Maricopa County

The shortage of physicians is critical, and The University of Arizona College of Medicine is addressing that urgent need.

While the UA College of Medicine celebrates four decades in Tucson, the College is meeting the statewide challenge of training more physicians with an expansion into Arizona’s capital city.

Not that Greater Phoenix hasn't seen its share of UA medical school students over the years. Third- and fourth-year medical students have chosen to participate in various elective experiences in Phoenix-based hospitals for more than 30 years, but no formal administrative presence for the College of Medicine existed in Phoenix until 1992. Now, the first class of 24 students in their first year of medical school is studying at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University.

The 15-year history features accelerated growth and the support of the state’s leadership and medical community. The future has begun with the first class under way and research work commencing in the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative building (which houses UA and ASU researchers) on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

Jacqueline Chadwick, MD, helped establish the Phoenix arm of the College of Medicine in 1992. A well-known family practice physician, Dr. Chadwick has helped lead efforts in Phoenix ever since, including serving as one of the associate deans during the critical planning stages ahead of the inaugural first-year class of 2007.

"Collaboration with our partner hospitals and local physicians has been the key to success for over 15 years," Dr. Chadwick said. "The College of Medicine students have benefited greatly from clinical experiences throughout Maricopa County, and Arizona’s medical school has existed as a true statewide asset with its presence in Phoenix as well as rural Arizona."

The early years were marked with firsts – including the establishment of a Minority Affairs Office, the capability of students to spend their entire third and fourth years in the Phoenix area and the establishment of a robust videoconferencing link between Phoenix and Tucson.

What would become the Arizona Medical Education Consortium was formed in 1995 to serve as a resource for the graduate medical education programs across the state.

By 1998, a Student Affairs office was created to provide daily assistance to the medical students now regularly completing clerkships in the Phoenix area after spending the first two years studying basic medical sciences in Tucson.

In 2000, the University further expanded its footprint in Maricopa County, bringing representatives of admissions, alumni, agriculture, athletics, development and government relations into space in midtown Phoenix to join its colleagues from the College of Medicine.

The partnerships forged over the years include key clinical and research-oriented efforts. In 1999, an alliance was formed by the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson and Scottsdale Healthcare to bring the Cancer Center’s special areas of expertise and research to the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center in Scottsdale.

Also created was the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, a research collaboration of the three state universities that led to the first jointly run research building – ABC 1. The building, which opened in 2007, includes ASU and UA researchers in "dry" and "wet" lab facilities right next door to another partner, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

The building sits on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, which includes the expansion of the College of Medicine into downtown Phoenix. The UA College of Medicine – Phoenix in partnership with ASU is the result of an historic agreement approved in 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents and funded by the Arizona Legislature.

The City of Phoenix provided land to establish the Biomedical Campus with plans to add more buildings to accommodate additional students of the UA College of Pharmacy, ASU and NAU in order to address Arizona’s shortage of physicians, pharmacists and other health professionals.

Now, more than 600 Phoenix-area physicians are volunteer members of the UA College of Medicine faculty, many of whom collaborate on research projects.

With the first 24 students beginning their work in Phoenix, plans are being put in place for as many as 150 students per class to be trained in Maricopa County, more than doubling the number of physicians schooled by The University of Arizona. The first 40 years has seen amazing growth. What will 2047 look like?