FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 17, 1996
Terry Lightfoot (510) 987-9194

COMMISSION TO STUDY FUTURE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION

The University of California, the nation's largest provider of medical education and clinical care, has established a commission to examine new ways to train the medical workforce for the next century.

UC President Richard C. Atkinson has formed the Commission on the Future of Medical Education to develop new strategies the university can employ to meet the challenges posed by rapid changes in the health care industry. The commission will suggest new methods of delivering medical education throughout the instructional process, from a student's entry into a medical school to a seasoned practitioner's search for re-education. The commission will also explore ways to speed the application of new and innovative technologies in physician training.

An initial report on the commission's charge and course of action was presented at a meeting of the UC Board of Regents today (Thursday, Oct. 17) in UC San Francisco.

"The recommendations of the commission will have a significant effect on medical education and care in California," Atkinson said. "In addition, the changes implemented by the university as a result of the commission's work may well help to shape future efforts to restructure the education and training of physicians across the nation."

The commission will examine the current size and quality of California's health care workforce and suggest necessary changes to the number and types of physicians required to meet the future health care needs of the state. In addition, the commission will suggest new policies to ensure that graduates of UC medical schools possess the knowledge and skills to help them continue to provide the highest level of medical care in a changing health care environment.

The 28-member commission is made up of medical educators, public health administrators and top-level executives of corporate health care providers from across the country. The chair of the commission is Thomas Langfitt, chairman and chief executive officer of Glenmede Corp., and a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Charles Wilson, chair of the neurological surgery department at UC San Francisco, has taken a one-year sabbatical to serve as senior associate to the president on medical affairs and liaison to the commission.

The commission will issue a report during the spring of 1997.

UC's health and medical sciences instructional program is the largest in the nation with over 12,000 students annually enrolled in medicine, public health and other health professions. The system's five medical schools at the Davis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Irvine and San Diego campuses train approximately 2,600 medical students or two-thirds of the state's total each year.

In addition, the centers sponsor more than 150 residency training programs representing all recognized specialties and subspecialties of medicine and surgery. More than 4,400 medical residents currently train in these programs with 47 percent enrolled in primary care specialties of family practice, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.

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Note: A complete copy of the commission's charge and a list of its members are available on request from the UC News Office and through the UCOP Internet site at: http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/pres/comments/meded.html