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Making the Rounds with Founding Dean Dr. Barbara Atkinson
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Friends and Colleagues,
Public medical schools depend on a wide array of funding to remain viable and successful. A few of these include state/government funding, clinical practice, research grants, and philanthropic support. When I arrived in May 2014, the first project I completed was to develop a 10-year budget that outlined what it would take to support our medical school -- from the curriculum, to faculty, to residency programs -- and potential funding streams.
State funding
: As a public allopathic medical school, UNLV School of Medicine depends on a portion of state funds. Last session, Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Nevada legislature approved nearly $27 million in funding for the medical school. Our budget request received strong bipartisan support from the governor, legislature, Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, and the Las Vegas community. These start-up funds are helping us to develop our curriculum and infrastructure, and hire a stellar academic and clinical faculty.
Medical school revenue
: Medical schools generate income through clinical practices and hospital partners. Physicians who supervise our students will become part of the medical school's "faculty practice".
UNLV School of Medicine will manage these practices, collect their revenue, and provide money for operations, including clinical practice operating expenses, salaries for nursing and other staff, and a large portion of clinical teaching faculty salaries. An additional source of revenue that flows into the practice plan is the negotiated revenue from hospital partners. This revenue pays clinical faculty physicians for their time spent supervising and providing coverage of services for the hospital. The hospital bills for these services and the revenues directly fund the practice.
Student tuition and fees
: Another source of revenue is generated from the student tuition and fees.
Research grants:
UNLV School of Medicine looks forward to actively pursuing federal research grants that progress the treatment and cure of diseases.
Private philanthropic support
: Private philanthropic support is essential for building excellence for a medical school at the onset, and over the long-term. Our outstanding student scholarship campaign last spring is a great example.
- Outright gifts provide needed resources to supplement the medical school's current funding for faculty recruitments, capital expenditures, scholarships, research, and programs.
- Endowments provide permanent sources of revenue for medical education, clinical and community outreach, and research. Offering a named, endowed chair or professorship to a prospective faculty leader serves as an important recruitment tool. Named gifts represent the hallmark of a strong academic institution. Faculty leaders will set the standard of excellence for our medical students, residents, and fellows, and in building strong research programs in cancer, mental health and addiction, neuroscience, cardiology and orthopedics.
We are currently meeting with donors to discuss naming opportunities for the permanent medical school building and for endowed faculty positions. Smaller donations also make a huge difference.
I am grateful for your support and continually amazed by the generosity of this community. Together we are going to make a difference. By 2030, we anticipate generating $4 for every $1 of state funding, and realizing an overall community economic benefit of $1.2 billion per year.
Best wishes,
Barbara
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We recently created the UNLV School of Medicine
Fund for Excellence
for any donation amount. The fund provides us with resources to invest in the medical school's priorities and to enhance its educational, clinical, research, and community outreach efforts. Flexible resources are essential, particularly during our start-up phase.
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