The Prime Healthcare Foundation is pleased to support the development of a privately-funded, non-profit medical school in Colton, Southern California. The M.D. school, known as California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) received preliminary accreditation in February 2018 from the Licensing Committee on Medical Education and will welcome its first class in August 2018. The medical school is financed primarily through an initial $40 million donation from Prime Healthcare Foundation.

"This is a landmark day for our communities in medical education and health care," said Dr. Prem Reddy. "I am extremely proud as a physician, as a local resident and longtime proponent of health education to contribute to this medical school that will become a pillar of health education in our area."

"This is an exciting and much-needed opportunity for medical students in the Inland Empire and California," said Dr. GnanaDev, Cal Med's president. "Because of many factors, including the extremely limited medical school spots in our state and severe shortage of doctors, we believe this project will have a significant positive impact on the economy, education and health for many decades."

CUSM, located near Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Colton, expects to welcome 60 students in its inaugural class and include a maximum of approximately 150 students within a decade.

"The California University of Science and Medicine will be a great addition to the universities, colleges and trade schools providing career training and educational opportunities to our residents," San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Rutherford said. "In addition, the new medical school will help us overcome our region's doctor shortage by allowing more students to pursue careers in the medical profession."

CUSM will cultivate an environment that facilitates advances in education, research and health care delivery, and it will partner with ARMC, the County of San Bernardino's top-quality health care facility, and other hospitals in the county and throughout Southern California to train the next generation of innovative, compassionate and diverse health care professionals.

"The opportunity to establish a new medical school within the county is exciting," said Josie Gonzales, Fifth District Supervisor for the County of San Bernardino. "The medical school will not only help meet the growing demand for new health care professionals, it would be an economic boost to Colton and the surrounding communities."

The need for a medical school: physician shortage:

According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, the United States faces a shortage of 91,500 primary care and specialist physicians by 2020. In San Bernardino County, there is just one primary care physician per 1,201 people, one half the number compared to the national rate.

The need for a medical school: aging Baby Boomer population:

Baby Boomers are individuals born between 1946 and 1964 and make up about 26.1 percent of the U.S. population, or an estimated 78 million people. California is one of five states with the largest Baby Boomer population. It is expected that one of every six Californians will be 65 or older by 2030 and, as the Baby Boomer population ages, a more intense, dignified and responsive health care system will be required to meet their medical needs.

The need for a medical school: California medical students abroad:

According to a government report, from 1998 to 2008 the federal government loaned $1.5 billion to U.S. students enrolled in foreign medical institutions through the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Of the 42,000 medical student applicants, only 18,600 matriculated and the remainder was forced to consider alternatives. For example, 20 to 25 percent of students currently enrolled in medical schools in the Caribbean islands are from California. A majority of these students graduated from elite California colleges with excellent grade-point averages. California, however, has just 8 fully accredited MD schools, and one new one (UC Riverside), for a population of 39 million; in comparison, New York, with a population of 19.5 million, has 13 MD schools.