UC Riverside is celebrating its new medical school with a special ceremony for its first group of students tonight. It's the first public medical school to open its doors on the west coast in nearly 50 years.
UC Riverside's new school is starting with a class of 50 students. They'll be entering a profession that's going through profound changes.
The school's dean, G. Richard Olds, said his program will try to reflect some of those changes. For example, he said, most med schools and residency programs train students in hospitals.
"Part of our strategy is change the place where medical education takes place, and move it, to some extent, out of the hospitals, and move it into the communities and into the outpatient settings, where most healthcare has to take place," Olds said.
Both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have a shortage of physicians. Olds hopes students who do their training at UC Riverside will practice in the area.
