Santa Clara to open new medical school

Santa Clara University and Sutter Health said on May 15 they will open the Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine in Santa Clara, creating what the partners described as the first new medical school in the San Francisco Bay Area in more than a century. The school is backed in part by a $175 million gift from Santa Clara trustee Mary Stevens and her husband, venture capitalist Mark Stevens. The partners announced the project at the site of the future campus, an 82,000-square-foot facility under construction near Mission College Boulevard. Officials said the school will seek to train physicians for Silicon Valley and the broader South Bay as California and the nation face doctor shortages. ### Where will the school be and when is it supposed to open? The future campus is at 2431 Mission College Blvd. in Santa Clara, according to San José Spotlight, and construction is already underway. The building is about five miles from Santa Clara University’s main campus and sits next to Sutter’s East Santa Clara Campus, the university and health system said. (scu.edu) The school plans to open in three to five years, pending accreditation, San José Spotlight reported. The medical program would be part of a broader Sutter buildout in Santa Clara that also includes a new hospital campus nearby. ### Who is paying for it? Mary Stevens and Mark Stevens are providing a $175 million gift that the partners said will fund the project in part. (sanjosespotlight.com) Santa Clara said the donation is the largest cash gift in Catholic higher education and the largest gift ever received by either Santa Clara University or Sutter Health. Mary Stevens is a 1984 Santa Clara alumna and university trustee, while Mark Stevens is a venture capitalist and former Sequoia Capital partner, according to university materials. The couple and their children are also longtime Sutter patients, Santa Clara said. (scu.edu) ### What do Santa Clara and Sutter say the school will teach differently? Julie Sullivan, Santa Clara University’s president, said the school will combine the university’s Jesuit approach to whole-person care with technology-focused training. In comments published by San José Spotlight, Sullivan said the goal is to prepare doctors who can use technology effectively without losing the physician-patient connection. (scu.edu) University leaders told San José Spotlight that the curriculum will combine traditional medical education with artificial intelligence tools and simulation-based training. Sutter CEO Warner Thomas said the school is intended to help train the next generation of doctors while expanding access to care in local communities. (vitals.sutterhealth.org) ### Why are the partners tying the launch to a physician shortage? The Association of American Medical Colleges said in its most recent workforce report that the United States could face a physician shortage of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036. The AAMC said many communities already struggle to access care and called for sustained investment in physician training. (sanjosespotlight.com) California also faces physician workforce gaps. A 2024 University of California report said the state was projected to have a shortage of 1,550 full-time-equivalent primary care physicians in 2025 and that physicians remain unevenly distributed across the state. ### What approvals does the school still need before students can enroll? (aamc.org) The Liaison Committee on Medical Education is the accrediting body for U.S. medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree, according to the AAMC. New schools generally must obtain preliminary accreditation before they can recruit and teach students, according to accreditation guidance and examples from other California medical schools. (ucop.edu) That means the Santa Clara-Sutter school still faces a multiyear approval process before it can admit its first class. San José Spotlight reported that the three-to-five-year opening timeline depends on that accreditation process. ### How does this fit into Sutter’s broader Santa Clara expansion? Sutter said in November 2025 that it planned a new medical center near Levi’s Stadium as part of a larger Silicon Valley investment. (aamc.org) In an April 2026 update, the health system said the planned facility would total about 850,000 square feet and include 302 licensed beds, an emergency department, intensive care units, labor and delivery suites, operating rooms and a rooftop helipad. (sanjosespotlight.com) The university and Sutter said the medical school site is adjacent to Sutter’s East Santa Clara Campus, while the health system’s West Santa Clara Campus is slated for a major new hospital by 2031. Those projects give the school a defined clinical and construction timeline as it moves through accreditation and toward opening. (scu.edu) (vitals.sutterhealth.org)