SJV PRIME

MERCED, Calif. — Though UC Merced looked back this year to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the campus’s groundbreaking, signs of what the future will hold continue to come into focus.

Those signs include cutting-edge research moving forward in the San Joaquin Valley -- the state's fastest growing region -- and around the world, the growing campus, and the ever-strengthening bond between the campus and the community.

Six students, all with ties to the San Joaquin Valley, have been admitted to the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (PRIME). The students have begun their first year of medical school with a two-day orientation at UC Merced and the UCSF Fresno Center for Medical Education and Research.

The second UC Merced San Joaquin Valley-PRIME cohort includes:

http://www.ucmerced.edu/sites/www/files/news/images/sjv_prime_inaugural_..." style="width: 200px; height: 250px; " title="The students in the inaugural class in the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education are spending the summer furthering their training by participating in internships and other opportunities. From left, Christina Thabit, Agustin Morales, Kelly Fujikawa, Randell Rueda and Sidra Ayub.

http://www.ucmerced.edu/sites/www/files/news/images/090928-coe-grant.png" title="Maria Pallavicini, dean of the School of Natural Sciences, works with student researchers in her lab.

The University of California, Merced, has formed a partnership with the UC Davis School of Medicine to begin training medical students in the San Joaquin Valley.

The first cohort of six medical students will enter the program in Fall 2011. Fred Meyers, M.D., executive director of Medical Education and Academic Planning for UC Merced, will present details of the program to the UC Board of Regents this afternoon (Sept. 15). The presentation is for informational purposes only. Meyers also is a professor and executive associate dean in the UC Davis School of Medicine.

The University of California, Merced, and UC Davis School of Medicine announced today the first cohort of students who are expected to enroll this fall in the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (PRIME).

The two campuses announced in September a partnership to begin educating medical students in the Valley. A gift to UC Merced from the United Health Foundation in 2006 is helping to fund the new program.

The students are:

The University of California, Merced, today announced the appointment of Donald M. Hilty, M.D., to the position of co-director of the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education. The appointment is the latest step in the university's long-term plan to develop a medical education program leading to an independent medical school.

Hilty will work alongside Frederick J. Meyers, M.D., who was named executive director of medical education and academic planning at UC Merced in fall 2008.