In a move seeking to enhance the partnership between Virginia Tech and Roanoke, Va.-based Carilion Clinic, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors on Monday voted unanimously to support the integration of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine into the university, according to the Roanoke Star. The medical school currently operates independently of the hospital.
Officials of the two organizations believe the integration process will take about two years to complete. Although the medical school was formed as a public-private partnership between Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech, currently, it is operated by an independent board.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, along with the closely related Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, will comprise the core of the Virginia Tech Carilion Health Science and Technology Campus.
"The integration will create new opportunities to access external research funding that is available to institutions with medical schools," said Carilion Clinic President and CEO Nancy Howell Agee, RN. "That builds on our already strong program and will be good for the students, Virginia Tech and Carilion because it will lead to increased growth in translational research, connecting the theoretical to our patients' bedside. It will also help us to continue to attract the very best clinical researchers and their teams."
More articles on medical schools:
Worker falls off scaffolding at Harvard Medical School
How can medical students learn from improv work?
Cleveland Clinic's new building aims to teach medical teamwork