Leaders from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCU) will join partners and friends from the Joplin regional community to celebrate the realization of a long-awaited dream with a ribbon cutting ceremony for the KCU Farber-McIntire campus, and the opening of the first new medical school in Missouri in nearly half a century, on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.
“This is indeed an amazing day,” said Marc B. Hahn, DO, president and CEO of KCU. “Together, we have established an innovative and collaborative approach to medical education that will serve as a model for our country.”
In July of 2017 KCU-Joplin will welcome its first class of at least 150 medical students. Many of these students grew up in the surrounding area and have expressed plans to remain in the region in order to help improve access to high-quality primary medical care.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the primary care physician shortage in the United States is projected to exceed 50,000 by 2025, greater than in any other specialties. The total physician shortage across all specialties is projected to reach more than 100,000.
“This is the dawning of a new era for educating osteopathic physicians locally to serve the primary care and rural health needs of Southwest Missouri and beyond,” Hahn said.
KCU-Joplin has been made possible through collaboration among KCU, Mercy Hospital Joplin, Freeman Health System, the City of Joplin and philanthropic leadership from the surrounding community.
The KCU-Joplin campus is located on the site of Mercy’s former hospital, which was constructed in 2012 to serve as a temporary facility following the destruction of St. John’s Hospital during the devastating Joplin tornado in 2011. “Our university is extremely proud to be part of the story that is the continuing rebirth of Joplin.” noted Hahn.” We are honored to be opening this medical school on the hallowed grounds of the former St. John’s Hospital. It is indeed, like the “Phoenix rising from the ashes.”
KCU-Joplin will feature cutting-edge technology, anatomy and physical diagnosis laboratories, advanced robotics for patient simulation and other unique features.
The Joplin region and the entire nation want and deserve well-trained physicians who treat patients as people, not as a set of symptoms or a disease. KCU-Joplin will lead the way in educating future generations of doctors dedicated to a whole-person approach to medical care, and to improving the lives of the communities they serve.
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