Carolinas Medical Center Academic Infrastructure: Implications for Physician Workforce Expansion

Abstract

he city of Charlotte is known for being the second largest banking center in the country after New York. Its growth rate in recent years-in terms of new businesses, jobs, and population-has been nothing short of explosive.While such distinctions are positive, Charlotte has one other distinction that renders the city something of an anomaly in the world of medical education. It is one of the largest cities in the United States without a medical school.However, this may change. Late in 2006, leaders of the University of the North Carolina School of Medicine (UNC-SOM) approached Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) with a proposal to develop a second UNC medical school campus in Charlotte.The plan as initially proposed by UNC would expand the existing class size by 50 students, from 160 to 210. The students would complete their first two years of training in Chapel Hill. To accommodate the expanded class during the last two years, a new campus would be developed in Charlotte, in association with the Carolinas Medical Center (CMC).One major advantage of the UNC proposal is that it builds on the existing academic infrastructure at CMC. Carolinas Medical Center, an 861-bed hospital, which serves as the flagship facility for CHS, has a long history of involvement with education and research and serves as one of 5 state designated academic medical center teaching hospitals.The academic nature of the other 4 hospitals is probably more apparent because all are affiliated with highly visible universities