News Update

UC Merced to launch medical school in 2023

After more than 20 years in the works, University of California, Merced, will begin enrolling its first medical school students in 2023.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers visited the site of the future medical education program on the UC Merced campus Monday. In his remarks, he stressed the importance of having a medical campus in the Central Valley, which experiences some of the worst health outcomes in the state while having fewer doctors compared with other regions. There are 157 medical doctors for every 100,000 residents in the Central Valley, while the Bay Area has 411 per 100,000, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office. Statewide there’s 157 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents, while in the Central Valley there are fewer than 45 per 100,000.

“ZIP codes shouldn’t be a pre-existing condition,” Newsom said. “UC Merced’s medical school will be the first of its kind for the community, providing local students with opportunities to both learn closer to home and serve the communities they grew up in, while also working to confront the most persistent health challenges facing the Central Valley head-on.”

The medical school will have the capacity to train 200 graduate students, with the first cohort of 50 on track for enrollment in 2023.