MEDIA CONTACT: Kristine McGrath
561-716-2101, kmcgrath@fau.edu or
Jeanne Antol Krull, UM School of Medicine
305-243-4853, JAntolKrull@med.miami.edu or
Jamie Oberweger, Boca Raton Community Hospital
561-955-5083, joberweger@brch.com
UM/FAU Medical School Partnership Receives Final Approval
BOCA RATON, FL (April 21, 2005) – In a unanimous vote, the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) agreed to expand one of the most unique, innovative educational partnerships in the nation, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University. The BOG’s approval allows the current two-year UM/FAU medical program to expand to a full four-year medical education program that will deliver a cost-efficient and enhanced level of medical education to its students.
“Today is truly a great day for Florida Atlantic University,” said FAU President Frank T. Brogan. “This ‘out of the box’ program is a testimony to what can be done to help meet the growing need for physicians in Florida in a cost-effective manner. With this expansion, UM and FAU will soon be providing a full, quality medical education program to the physicians of tomorrow.”
FAU’s first class of 16 medical students began their studies on the Boca Raton campus this past fall. With the expansion of the UM Miller School of Medicine at FAU, 256 medical students will be enrolled by the 2010-2011 academic year at an annual cost to the state of approximately $15 million.
“This initiative allows UM and our partners at FAU, to design truly innovative educational programs that will produce the types of physicians our society needs and will highly value,” said Mark O’Connell, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education at the UM Miller School of Medicine.
The plan also incorporates Boca Raton Community Hospital as the teaching hospital for the program. The curriculum of study already includes a clinical component at the hospital. “Assisting the educational path of future physicians is part of delivering healthcare excellence to our community”, said Gary Strack, President/CEO of Boca Raton Community Hospital. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of a groundbreaking medical education system.”
For more information about the UM Miller School of Medicine at FAU, contact UM at 305-243-6737, FAU at 561-297-2219, or Boca Raton Community Hospital at 561-955-5083.
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About Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the university serves 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts eight colleges - the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs. The University is observing its 40th anniversary this year.
About University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Serving more than five million people as the only academic medical center in South Florida, the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine has earned international acclaim for research, clinical care, and biomedical innovations. Founded in 1952 as Florida's first accredited medical school, the University of Miami provides the medical staff for the nationally renowned University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. Each year the medical school's 700 faculty physicians have more than a million patient encounters, in primary care and more than 30 specialties. There are more than 1,300 ongoing research projects funded by $196 million in external grants and contracts to UM faculty.
About Boca Raton Community Hospital
Serving the community since 1967, Boca Raton Community Hospital has 400 beds and more than 750 primary and specialty physicians with privileges. In 2005, Boca Raton Community Hospital was identified as a top five percent US hospital for clinical quality and received the “Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence” award. Centers of excellence include emergency services; oncology; clinical research; cardiology; women’s health; maternity/pediatrics/NICU; radiology; orthopedics; neuroscience; wound care/hyperbarics; cardio-pulmonary and out-patient rehabilitation; and home health. Boca Raton Community Hospital is part of a program alliance to become the teaching hospital for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University.
An open-heart surgery program will launch in fall of 2006. The Lynn Regional Cancer Center at Boca Raton Community Hospital has been in operation for 28 years. It is the largest comprehensive cancer center in South Florida and the third largest comprehensive cancer center in Florida. A new $60 million cancer center planned to open in Fall 2007.
