New Medical School Planned for Santa Clara

Santa Clara University and Sutter Health said on May 15 that they plan to open a new medical school in Santa Clara around 2030, backed in part by a $175 million donation from alumna Mary (Mathews) Stevens and her husband, venture capitalist Mark Stevens. The school will be called the Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine, and the partners say it would be the first new medical school in the San Francisco Bay Area in more than a century. The project ties a Jesuit university to one of Northern California’s largest not-for-profit health systems at a time when California officials and health leaders have been warning about physician pipeline constraints. The future campus is already under construction in north Santa Clara, next to Sutter Health’s East Santa Clara Campus. ### Who is building the school, and where will it sit? Sutter Health and Santa Clara University are jointly launching the school, according to the university’s May 15 announcement. The campus is planned as an 82,000-square-foot facility about five miles from Santa Clara University’s historic mission campus and adjacent to the Sutter East Santa Clara Campus in Silicon Valley. (scu.edu) North Santa Clara is the chosen site because the medical school is being built into a broader Sutter expansion there. The same announcement said Sutter also plans to open a 272-bed, eight-story medical center on its West Santa Clara Campus by 2031. ### Why are the Stevens family and Sutter central to the plan? (scu.edu) The $175 million gift came from Mary (Mathews) Stevens, a 1984 Santa Clara graduate, and Mark Stevens, and the school will carry their names. Santa Clara University and Sutter said the donation is the largest gift ever received by either institution, and Santa Clara said it is the largest-ever cash gift to Catholic higher education. (scu.edu) Warner Thomas, Sutter Health’s president and chief executive, said the health system chose Santa Clara University because of “shared values” and what he called a “more human-centered, forward-looking model of care.” Julie Sullivan, Santa Clara University’s president, said the school is intended to help address a physician workforce shortage while training doctors in a setting that combines science, technology, ethics and health. (scu.edu) ### Why does a new medical school matter in California’s pipeline? California workforce reports have described pressure on the state’s physician training pipeline, including medical school capacity and residency slots. A California Future Health Workforce Commission fact sheet said 60% of Californians seeking a medical degree had to leave the state for medical school, while University of California workforce reports have continued to track shortages and bottlenecks in graduate medical education. (scu.edu) Sutter executives have framed the Santa Clara project as part of a longer-term staffing strategy. Thomas told the Sacramento Bee that Sutter needs to “build the pipeline of physicians” coming into its system, linking the school to the health system’s own workforce needs as well as broader regional demand. ### What will be different about the school’s training model? Santa Clara University said the school will be grounded in the university’s Jesuit approach to whole-person care while embedding technologies that assist physicians. (futurehealthworkforce.org) Coverage of the announcement by KQED and other local outlets said the program is expected to incorporate artificial intelligence into medical education and connect students to Sutter’s clinical network. (sacbee.com) Sutter said students and faculty will be able to work with the health system’s Innovation Center and Santa Clara University’s Cunningham College of Engineering. That structure is meant to put medical training, research and clinical care in the same system rather than treating them as separate tracks. (scu.edu) ### What has to happen before students arrive? A 2030 opening depends on a multiyear accreditation process, and outside coverage has said the school expects to enroll about 120 students per class once it opens. Medical schools typically must move through preliminary, provisional and full accreditation stages before expanding to full operations. (markets.businessinsider.com) By 2031, Sutter expects its new 272-bed West Santa Clara hospital to open down the road from the medical school site, giving the partnership another major clinical asset in the same corridor. For now, the next concrete step is accreditation work and continued construction at the 82,000-square-foot campus beside Sutter’s East Santa Clara facilities. (scu.edu) (forbes.com)