JOPLIN, Mo. – The city of Joplin is celebrating a major development, opening the first new medical school in the Show-Me State in 46 years.
The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences held their grand opening for the new Joplin campus, called the KCU Farber-McIntire campus, on Tuesday afternoon, establishing an osteopathic medical school that has been years in the making.
“This is indeed an amazing day,” Marc B. Hahn, DO, president and CEO of KCU, said. “Together, we have established an innovative and collaborative approach to medical education that will serve as a model for our country.”
KCU-Joplin will feature cutting-edge technology, anatomy and physical diagnosis laboratories, and advanced robotics for patient simulation and other unique features.
The Joplin campus will emphasize primary care and rural health, in order to help address a growing concern of not having enough physicians in rural areas. The American Association of Colleges and Osteopathic Medicine says the primary care physician shortage is expected to surpass 50,000 in 2025.
Currently, 150 students have been accepted to the school to attend classes this fall, with more on the waiting list. Many of the students who will be attending grew up in the region, and plan to remain in the region in order to help improve access to high-quality primary medical care.
But another noteworthy factor is how the new med school will affect the surrounding region. Dr. Paula Gregory, the dean of the Joplin campus, says they have projected the new school to bring in an estimated $110 million per year back into the community. She also said that 95 percent of the sub-contractors all came from within the region.
“The impact will be from the housing, medical care, using the local facilities, and the retailer outlets. The community will benefit directly from those,” Gregory said.
As for job creation, nearly two dozen faculty members and 60 staff members are also on board. Gregory says that when everything is in place, it will be a fully-equipped medical facility, with housekeeping, security, and food service to compliment the medical staff.
The work to bring a medical school to Joplin first began in 2008, after which officials from Missouri Southern State University formed a partnership with KCU in 2009. Their proposal called for $10 million to help finance construction of a 35,000-square-foot building, which would be rented to KCU, but the project fell apart in 2010.
In March 2015, President Hahn announced that the school would develop a 600-student medical school in Joplin by repurposing the temporary Mercy Hospital that had been built after the tornado hit in May 2011. The current facility is a direct result of that.
“Our university is extremely proud to be part of the story that is the continuing rebirth of Joplin,” Hahn said. ”We are honored to be opening this medical school on the hallowed grounds of the former St. John’s Hospital. It is, indeed, like the “Phoenix rising from the ashes.”
The first class will graduate from the medical school in 2021.
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
