Naming of med school dean augurs bright future for UNLV, Southern Nevada

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015 | 2 a.m.

In Nevada’s efforts to promote economic diversification, few projects loom as large as the creation of the UNLV School of Medicine. We still are applauding UNLV, the Board of Regents, Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature for creating the school on paper, then funding it for real.

In the 18 months of planning since its birth, under the direction of Dr. Barbara Atkinson, the school has made remarkable strides, most notably lobbying for $27 million from the state to fully fund operations into 2017 and leading a $13.5 million, 60-day fundraising campaign that will provide full 4-year scholarships to 135 students, including the 60 who will open the school in 2017. Given the cost of medical school tuition elsewhere, UNLV will be in a position to recruit the best students nationwide, further buoying its accreditation.

And the news just keeps getting better, with the well-deserved appointment Nov. 10 of Dr. Atkinson as founding dean.

We’re lucky to have her. Atkinson retired in 2012 as executive vice chancellor of the school of medicine at the University of Kansas, capping a 37-year career in pathology research, teaching and administration. So far in her career, Atkinson has overseen the graduation of some 2,500 medical students. She also served on a presidential commission on bioethics.

But she’s not done yet, and that’s good for Nevada. In 2014, Atkinson was teased out of retirement and lured to UNLV, smitten by the chance to create a medical school that, in turn, will trigger a cascade of federally-funded medical research, improved health care delivery and new medical partnerships in Southern Nevada, both in the public and private sectors.

To understand how quickly Atkinson has advanced the agenda, consider some of her accomplishments so far:

• Established partnerships with UMC, the VA Hospital, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Dignity Health and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health to create avenues for shared research and real-world experiences for medical students

• Raised $3 million to help fund faculty in specific departments and areas of research

• Hired a core of 19 faculty members and administrators, with 60 more to come on board by 2017

• Laid the foundation for medical students to deliver health care services in downtown Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, as well as to experience emergency medicine by becoming paramedics during their first weeks in medical school. Atkinson’s overriding philosophy is to develop top-notch doctors by steeping them in the trenches of community medicine, including volunteer work that has little to do with stethoscopes.

With Atkinson’s appointment, and given the momentum she already has created, it seems certain that the UNLV School of Medicine will earn accreditation and begin training reinforcements for doctor-poor Nevada.

Beyond its primary mission of producing doctors, the school will add thousands of jobs, tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue for the state, and within 15 years, $1.2 billion annually to the economy. The school will have paid for itself many times over and become a revenue producer.

In Nevada’s campaign to become an economically robust state, adding another medical school to complement UNR’s School of Medicine is vitally important.

So, too, is expanding other nascent industries. We celebrate eBay’s planned $400 million expansion in Nevada and the expansion of Las Vegas data center Switch to Reno.

There’s one more announcement we’re waiting to hear, in the wake of the state helping Tesla Motor Co. build its ambitious battery factory outside Reno. We want to hear that Nevada has landed Faraday Future to build an electric car manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas. It would further enrich the state and lure still more international business to our region.

To the governor and the Legislature: You’re on a roll. Keep it up. Nevada is growing in ways we can be proud.