The University of Minnesota Medical School trains 70% of this state’s physicians, and for 50 years the Duluth campus has specifically recruited and trained students dedicated to serving rural and Native American communities. Currently, our campus trains 65 medical students each year. After two years here, they go on to the Twin Cities campus to complete their training.
We want to ensure students who are committed to practicing in smaller communities spend all four years here, getting their clinical experience in the types of community hospitals they likely will see in their futures.
The need for these physicians is great, and we need Minnesotans’ help to grow to meet this need.
We have asked the Legislature for $12 million for the pre-design and pre-construction of the Duluth Academic Health Project. This project, a joint venture between the Medical School and College of Pharmacy, and in collaboration with clinical partners Essentia and St. Luke’s, is designed to expand our health-education programs and our impact on the Duluth-area community.
In addition to benefiting our training programs, this expansion and collaboration would bring specialized care and cutting-edge medicine — which are only available as clinical trials — into our community. These are the additional components of the Medical School’s mission in addition to education: delivering excellent care and discovering new treatments that bring hope to patients.
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We see this expansion as an imperative part of our vision of keeping Minnesotans healthier by keeping their health care close to come. We hope you'll support us as we build this resource for our community.
Kevin Diebel
Duluth
The writer is the interim regional campus dean at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus.
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