Lawmakers told med school stays put

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 10:48 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The newly appointed dean of Nevada's medical school promised legislators Tuesday that he would not close the Reno school, but promised any expansions will come in Las Vegas.

Dr. Robert Miller, who has been on the job for three months at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said the Reno school is an "integral part" of the total medical education program, but there are "more opportunities for growth" in Southern Nevada, where the population is underserved by physicians.

Miller also said the kidney transplant program, which has been closed, will be reopened. Dr. Alex Little, chairman of the surgery department, has recruited a surgeon to restart the program.

Northern Nevada legislators had feared the school on the University of Nevada, Reno's campus might close.

"I don't want to get rid of what we have," Sen. Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, said.

Mathews, a nurse, said she gets "heartburn" when she hears reports that the Reno campus may close.

Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman, D-Reno, a retired nurse, said she shared Mathews' concerns about possible closure of the Reno school, started in the 1960s and since expanded to Las Vegas.

Miller said having the campuses 450 miles apart "presents a challenge' to students, who now have to travel back and forth, but he said he would "not do any damage" to the Reno school.

He noted that the new dental school is being started in Las Vegas and a pharmacy school would probably be located in Southern Nevada, where nearly 70 percent of the population resides.

Miller talked of creating a "Nevada Medical Center" where all of the health and sciences programs in Southern Nevada would be located. The city of Las Vegas has agreed to donate land in the Las Vegas Technology Park, near where many medical facilities are located, including MountainView Hospital.

However, University Medical Center, which currently has a close relationship with the medical school, must be considered in the medical school's future plans, the dean said.

Under questioning by Mathews, Miller said the medical school is "struggling" to recruit minorities to become doctors. He called it a national problem, he said.

Miller said a national goal of having 3,000 minority students in medical school by this year was missed. The Nevada school, competing nationally for minority students, had only 10 to 15 minority applicants last year.

"The most we can offer is a two-year scholarship," Miller said.

Mathews said she has heard the same excuses in the past. "I'm baffled by the whole process," she said.