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Cases Made for Medical Schools Central Florida and Florida International Want to Start Programs.

Posted on: Friday, 2 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By BETH KORMANIK

Flashing dollars and a parade of politicians, doctors and students Thursday, two Florida universities made their cases for new medical schools at a meeting of state education officials in Jacksonville.

The Board of Governors, responsible for overseeing the state's public universities, discussed the proposals but didn't vote on creating new medical schools at the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Florida International University in Miami. Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts promised the board would vote by March, ending a three-year campaign by those colleges to bring the prestigious -- but potentially expensive -- schools to their campuses.

Two other public universities have medical schools. They are the University of Florida and the University of South Florida.

Board members appeared divided on whether the state needs new medical schools, whether they would be a good investment and whether the schools would result in more doctors practicing in Florida. Some expressed their support while others campaigned against the proposals.

The schools would need about $90 million each over the first five years and an annual budget of $20 million from the state. With other expenses, the total cost to the state for the two schools would be $500 million for the first 10 years of operation.

The colleges claim that once the schools have become established, they could have a combined economic impact of $5 billion annually.

Presidents John Hitt of Central Florida and Modesto Maidique of Florida International each presented their proposals to the board and brought along students, politicians, doctors and medical executives to show their support.

Maidique even used the occasion to announce a $20 million pledge for the school from a Miami philanthropist. In the days leading up to the meeting, Central Florida also announced multimillion-dollar donations.

Both presidents said medical schools fit with the direction of their universities and that they have been building toward this goal with supporting programs such as nursing, public health and biomedical programs.

"We didn't one day just wake up and say, 'Here's an opportunity for a medical school,' " Maidique said.

But the chairman of the board's committee on medical schools, Zachariah P. Zachariah, was unmoved, later asking, "If five universities asked for medical schools, would we support all five of them?"

Zachariah, a doctor from Broward County, said he had "serious concerns about any medical school," citing the cost and potential quality of the programs.

State Rep. Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican slated to become House speaker in 2010, promised the Legislature would fund the medical schools without taking away money from other state universities. But Education Commissioner John Winn said he didn't think that was possible.

An independent analysis by a state policy group last year suggested increasing the size of Florida's existing medical schools and the number of residencies available in the state before investing in new medical schools.

The board called Thursday for an additional report, from an independent consultant, to determine whether creating medical schools would guarantee the graduates would stay in Florida to practice medicine. They opted for an independent analysis instead of asking Colleges and Universities Chancellor Mark Rosenberg to collect the data. Rosenberg was named chancellor last month and previously served as provost at Florida International. In that job he had advocated for the proposed medical school there.beth.kormanik@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4619

Source: Florida Times Union

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