The University of Colorado School of Medicine is establishing a branch in Colorado Springs and El Paso County to broaden clinical training opportunities for third- and fourth-year medical students as early as 2016.
The branch, assuming it is approved by the medical school’s accrediting agency, is expected to benefit the Colorado Springs community, the CU School of Medicine and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) in several ways:
- The community can expect that some of the students who train in Colorado Springs will stay or return there to practice. The branch could make it easier for students in El Paso County to attend medical school, while adding to the educational prestige of an area that already is home to UCCS, Colorado College, Air Force Academy, other colleges and universities and the community college system.
- For UCCS, which has
been a strong supporter of this effort and will play a key role, the branch would mean opportunities for interprofessional healthcare education, the emerging direction in healthcare training, with the Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. It may offer research opportunities for faculty and students. Administrative offices for the branch will be located in the Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences at UCCS, which also will provide classroom space. The branch brings a new dimension of the CU education system to this part of Colorado
- The CU School of Medicine intends to increase the number of students it accepts and trains, and therefore the number of doctors it produces, a benefit to Colorado. As a state institution, the medical school welcomes the chance to expand activities around the state. Colorado Springs also offers the medical school the chance to work with community physicians to join the 2,000 volunteer faculty who help train our students. Students get additional training sites and a broader range of physicians to learn from. The branch will encourage innovative education models.