The Phoenix Biomedical Campus, a collaboration that took six years of planning and the combined efforts of all three state universities, will now move forward without ASU after the University announced this week that it is withdrawing its financial support.
ASU announced plans to remove itself from the endeavor because of budget concerns just eight days after state legislators finalized the construction of the campus’ newest building, which will be located in downtown Phoenix.
Arizona Board of Regents President Ernest Calderón said the withdrawal will have no impact on students.
The collaboration, known as The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix in partnership with ASU, will remove the last part of its name if ABOR approves the withdrawal May 1.
Jason Robert, a life sciences professor and associate professor of basic medical sciences at the school, said ASU’s withdrawal took him completely by surprise.
“I was sure at first that it was an April Fool’s joke,” Robert said. “It was such a surprise to all of us.”
ASU’s involved faculty members are being given the opportunity to continue their relationship with the school, but are not obligated to do so. Like Robert, many of the faculty members will return teaching primarily at ASU, he said.
“Working with UA turned out to be a lot harder than anyone anticipated,” Robert said. “The medical school grew a bit too quickly.”
Robert said he doesn’t know how UA is going to increase the number of medical students to the level school officials told state legislators they would.
The Phoenix Biomedical Campus, with the addition of the new health building, is expected to double the amount of medical students in Phoenix from 48 to about 100.
“I really hope for the sake of students that UA can run the college on their own,” Robert said.
ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said ASU will save $3.5 million per year by withdrawing from the project.
“ASU will continue to be part of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. The only thing that has changed is that we no longer have financial or instructional responsibilities for College of Medicine, which is located on the campus,” Shafer said.
In 2004 the universities were not under the financial strain they are now, Shafer said.
“Since that time, our state budget has been cut by $104 million, and we have been asked to reduce our expenses by an additional $5.4 million,” she said.
UA is expected to pick up the financial burden left by ASU, though exact details are uncertain, ABOR and ASU officials said. Representatives from UA could not be reached for comment.
ASU Vice President of Public Affairs Virgil Renzulli said the withdrawal will not hurt the University’s image in the medical field, because ASU still has the Biodesign Institute and partnerships with the Mayo Clinic.
The partnership would not have created a medical school for ASU, Robert said, which is a process that takes many years to earn accreditation and millions of dollars to develop.
“It does not hurt to not have a medical school,” Robert said. “It has not hurt Princeton or Carnegie Mellon.”
Robert said he plans to refocus his attention to ASU priorities, like building undergraduate programs and investing in personnel.
ASU currently offers pre-health and pre-medical curriculum for students interested in attending medical schools.
Reach the reporter at kpatton4@asu.edu
