If Syracuse University’s idea of a veteran-focused medical school comes to fruition, 40-to-60 undergraduates would enter the school tuition-free on a commitment that they will care for veterans in VA hospitals across the nation upon graduation.

The length of that commitment and the specific VA sites where students would serve are unknown. This is because the idea is still in discussion among SU faculty and administrators, and is also under a microscope by Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Tripp Umbach.

The concept of the medical school is similar to the setup of ROTC, said Mike Haynie, vice chancellor of veterans and military affairs at SU. Students will come to SU tuition-free but incur an obligation for national service as healthcare providers in the VA medical system, which projects a 22,000 doctor shortage within the next 10 years, Haynie said.

The students’ tuition would be funded by donations, a tangible piece of the goodwill Haynie said this country has toward the veteran community.

The idea of a veteran-focused medical school intrigued the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, including VA Secretary Bob McDonald, when SU administrators met with the department in Washington, D.C., Haynie said.

“VA hospitals support the residencies for almost every medical school in the country,” Haynie said. “But what’s interesting and what was intriguing from the VA’s perspective was never in their history have they had the opportunity to actually be part of and be at the table in terms of creating a new medical school.”

The medical school idea stemmed from the Academic Strategic Plan workgroup — a component of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Fast Forward Syracuse initiative. The workgroup saw an opportunity for SU to help veterans with clinical health and wellness issues nationwide, Haynie said, but this opportunity was blocked by SU’s lack of a medical school.

The idea to start a service-model medical school emerged. It would be one “that is specifically focused toward preparing medical professionals to serve the sometimes unique needs of those who have served in uniform — the 22.5 million veterans in this country,” Haynie — who spent 14 years in the military — said.

The concept is also an extension of two goals Syverud listed out for the university in his inauguration speech in April 2014: to enhance the undergraduate experience and to restore SU as the best place for veterans to gain a college education.

A veteran-focused medical school brings both those goals together, said Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs.

Syverud’s goal to make SU the best institution of higher learning for veterans is a reflection of the university’s rich history in veterans’ affairs. Former Chancellor William Tolley was invited by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the end of World War II to be part of a team that created the original G.I. Bill, Haynie said.

Upon his return to Syracuse, Tolley addressed a letter to returning war veterans, and wrote that any returning war veteran that wanted a college education was welcome to come to SU, Haynie said. The addition of veterans propelled SU from a small school of 5,000 students to a university of 17,000 students by the middle of 1950, Haynie added.

The letter hangs on a wall of a conference room in SU’s Institute of Veterans and Military Families — a reminder of the work the university has done for the veteran community, and a reason to keep doing that work.

“At the same time that (Tolley) did that, the president of Harvard gives a speech saying you know, they’re not welcome here,” Haynie said. “We did something different, and as a consequence it transformed this place. And I think what we’re talking about now is a similar kind of opportunity.”

This opportunity is under intense review by two parallel efforts: the internal faculty advisory committee and the external consulting firm Tripp Umbach.

The purpose of the 21-member faculty advisory committee, which represents nine colleges across the university, is to collect input and information regarding the medical school from faculty in different departments and colleges, said Sean O’Keefe, chair of the committee and a University Professor. The committee will consolidate its findings in a report due to the chancellor on Oct. 5.

O’Keefe said a concern among faculty members with any new initiative is if it is a zero-sum game or something additive and complementary to “what we’re already doing.”

The chancellor has made clear that if funding for the medical school comes at the expense of other schools, then the idea is a non-starter, Haynie said.

Consulting firm Tripp Umbach will help SU determine whether the medical school would bring new resources to the university.

The firm will determine the feasibility of the idea based on whether there are funding resources to support the school, whether there are clinical sites for students to train, whether it will harm existing medical schools and most of all, the university’s need for a medical school, said Beth Paul, principal and chief of staff at Tripp Umbach.

The results of the firm’s analysis will determine if SU can move into phase two of the planning process — which may even be short of making a final decision about the medical school, Haynie said.

The timeline of the analysis results is unknown, but Haynie said the university has an obligation to have enough evidence for the decision makers to act on sometime within the next four-to-six weeks.

The question of how a medical school at SU would affect SUNY Upstate Medical School is not being left out of the equation. Paul said existing medical schools are most concerned about their students being displaced by students at a new medical school. The firm has told representatives from SUNY Upstate that clinical training for students at the medical school would take place at VA facilities outside of Syracuse, Paul said.

Haynie, an entrepreneurship professor by academic training, said he has learned Syracuse can make itself stand out with a program such as this one.

The chance to create a veteran-focused, service-modeled medical school — an idea Quinn called “one of a kind” — is something Haynie said he thinks could transform the university.

Published on September 20, 2015 at 11:19 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu