Connecticut to Receive Third Medical School

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. — Quinnipiac University will be receiving a new medical school in 2013, making it the third new medical school in the state of Connecticut.

The process for the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine, named after a renowned medical illustrator, began in January 2010 and is set to have its first class in August 2013. Following a year of internal study and a six-month feasibility study, construction for the project is projected to take 11 months and will turn a 120,000-sqaure-foot building in to a state-of-the-art medical facility.

The building is set to feature operating and examination rooms, classrooms, student and faculty offices and a morgue. In addition, there will be a 300-seat auditorium, lecture halls and a 100-person multipurpose room with a video feed from the auditorium.

Standing at three stories, the school will be used by students from across academic disciplines, including the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences.

The renovated building will connect to Building 1, an 180,000-square-foot space that is home to the schools of health sciences, nursing and education. A 25,000-square-foot atrium will be feature event space and open areas on the first two floors, with the top floor serving as a health sciences library.

"We will train medical students with nursing students and physician assistant students because healthcare more and more is a team activity," said Bruce Koeppen, founding dean at the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine.

The school will focus on training medical students to enter the primary care field, since according to Koeppen; there is a severe shortage for primary care physicians.

"Right now if you look at the national statistics about 15 percent of current medical students are planning a career in primary care," said Koeppen. "We hope that 50 percent or more of our graduates will go into primary care."

With studies indicating medical field salaries are lower and work hour control is less in the field, students are choosing to go in to more specialized fields.

The medical school will start recruiting students in the fall, with 60 spots available to be filled.