Big tasks remain for founding dean of UNLV medical school

By Jackie Valley

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Dr. Barbara Atkinson admits retirement didn’t really suit her — at least the first time.

When UNLV officials sought her help in crafting the region’s first public medical school, she didn’t hesitate to jump on board as planning dean in May 2014. Fast forward 18 months: the university announced Tuesday that Atkinson has been named founding dean of the UNLV School of Medicine.

“I enjoyed retirement, but I would have to say I was a little bored,” said Atkinson, who previously served as a medical school administrator in Kansas. “This is certainly not boring.”

Her appointment signals another step forward for the university’s medical school, whose leadership team has been beefing up faculty and staff, planning curriculum, mapping the financial details of its clinical practices and fundraising — all in hopes of beginning classes in fall 2017.

The university will submit more documents to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the governing body for accreditation, by the end of this month.

Atkinson’s salary as founding dean will be $506,000 a year, university officials said.

After all the work so far, Atkinson said, she didn’t want to “let it go.”

She wants to see the first class of medical students start classes, grow in knowledge during their four years of school and graduate as doctors in May 2021. “This is something that’s really special,” she said. “I’m still having fun. That’s the good part.”

But a mountain of work remains ahead of Atkinson and her team. Here’s a look at efforts underway:

Faculty

The university has hired 17 faculty and staff members for the medical school and hopes to add four more by the end of January, Atkinson said.

Meanwhile, it’s preparing for the transition of Las Vegas-based University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM) faculty members to UNLV’s medical school. The UNSOM faculty members in Las Vegas who want to join UNLV’s medical school will receive joint appointments next month before fully transitioning to the new school in July 2017, Atkinson said.

Buildings

UNLV still hopes to anchor its medical school in the Las Vegas Medical District, the planned 674-acre cluster of medical offices, retail and residential space located near University Medical Center.

“We’re working on getting the site for our building nailed down,” Atkinson said. “We have a memorandum of understanding with the city for some space, but we haven’t finalized it yet.”

The new building won’t be completed by the time students start classes, so the medical school has interim space reserved at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center and UNLV’s Shadow Lane Campus, which is across the street from UMC and Valley Hospital.

Atkinson and her team also are working with PwC, a consulting firm, to plan the three outpatient clinics — which will be located in Henderson, North Las Vegas and central Las Vegas — where the students will spend their third year. They’re forming a business model for the clinics, evaluating how many practitioners will be needed and determining how much each building will cost.

Money

Earlier this year, the university raised $13.5 million in 60 days to fund 135 scholarships for future medical students, including the entire inaugural class.

What the university still needs: a donor willing to give $100 million in exchange for his or her name being attached to the medical school or medical building.

“I think we’re getting closer,” Atkinson said, referring to the search for that major benefactor. “People wanted to be sure that we were really going to be up and running.”