At its March 12 meeting in Urbana, the U. of I. Board of Trustees accepted the recommendation of U. of I. President Bob Easter to create a new engineering-centered school of medicine on the Urbana campus.
Easter had been considering the proposal for the past year, alongside a counterproposal from the Chicago campus to apply the medical-engineering focus to the existing college of medicine framework.
He said he had reviewed consultant reports from the Urbana and UIC campuses, and had sought advice from the University Senates Conference and from a private consulting firm.
The president announced the recommendation at the March 11 Academic and Student Affairs committee meeting, telling members the Urbana proposal advances the land-grant and research education missions of the university, and that its financial and governance plans are sound.
Easter said the campus is in a perfect position to parlay its highly ranked engineering, computer science and technology programs by combining them with a traditional doctor’s training. The combination is expected to lead to health device innovations and lower patient costs.
“The proposed medical school has the potential to promote Urbana-Champaign as a biomedical research hub and enhance regional economic development and beyond,” he said.
But the president cautioned that the enterprise’s success will be measured, in part, by its ability to complement – and not compete with – UIC’s existing college. The college has three regional campuses that annually train 300 doctors, many of whom stay in the state to practice.
“It is extremely important that the proposed project add to and not diminish the current infrastructure for medical education and research at the university,” Easter said.
He promised a “collaborative and synergetic” partnership with UIC that ultimately will represent a single strategic vision, which will be guided by incoming president Timothy R. Killeen, whose perspective was included in Easter’s review.
“The goals must be to advance the aspirations of each campus, while creating greater synergies between them to advance health care and benefit citizens,” Easter said.
The university’s next step will be to formalize its partnership with Carle Health System’s clinical enterprise, which has pledged more than $100 million for startup and other costs. The rest of the college’s funding will rely on donors, tuition revenue, clinical revenue and an estimated $135 million in fundraising in the first 10 years. State funding is not a part of the college’s financial model.
Easter said the partnership could well represent a new public-private model for sustaining higher education in the future.
“I think we’re in an incredible position,” Easter said. “I look forward in the next few years to seeing it unfold.”
Trustees at the March 11 committee meeting said they supported the proposal, which was first presented by Urbana Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise more than a year ago. They also expressed the need for leaders to move cautiously to ensure the UIC campus and its medical school retain autonomy yet reap the maximum collaborative benefits of the Urbana-centric endeavor.
“I think the case has been made to me,” said trustee Patrick J. Fitzgerald. “We can have strong medical schools on the two campuses. We can have great impact if we work together.”
Trustee Ricardo Estrada said he still is concerned that the fundraising level could lead to competitive “cannibalizing” of funds from existing donors.
Through many conversations with trustees and others, Estrada said he believes the plan will work and make the university stronger.
“I think we are taking risks, but they are mitigated risks,” he said.
Trustees received assurances from Wise and Killeen that every effort would be made to integrate the Urbana college of medicine with the UIC system.
Easter said leaders are committed to ensuring that happens. He said the creation last year of a vice chancellor for health affairs at UIC, which brought together the academic and clinical enterprises, was an important first administrative step to proposing the Urbana medical college.
Wise said after the March 12 meeting that she was pleased with the decision and ready to begin work on the college’s formation, which will include the development of a curriculum, a search for a dean and accreditation.
“Today, we have been given the opportunity to change the world,” Wise said. “We are the first to chart this new path in medical education, and we are excited by the challenge. Being first and being best is a 150-year tradition at Illinois, and we fully intend to translate that experience into advances in health care delivery.”
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