Arizona State University’s newly launched medical school has started recruiting its first class of students who will start in fall 2026.
Tempe-based ASU said Oct. 22 it had received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education to operate the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering. It is named after emergency medicine physician and ASU alum John Shufeldt, MD, who recently gifted ASU with a “nine-figure” donation to support the medical school.
Curriculum at the four-year medical school will blend clinical training with engineering, technology and humanities. Graduates will earn two degrees: an MD and a Master of Science in data engineering. Phoenix-based HonorHealth will serve as the school’s primarily clinical affiliate.
“Our students are going to be fully immersed in both cultures from the very beginning, the medical culture as well as engineering,” said Holly Lisanby, MD, founding dean of the medical school. “They’ll be dually trained. They’ll learn how to read both literature and how to work with faculty and mentors who are not just coming from clinical fields and engineering, but also entrepreneurship and the venture capital sector so that they will be physician-engineer-entrepreneurs who will really transform the future of health care.”
The school will be situated at the Mercado in downtown Phoenix until construction on a headquarters facility is complete in 2028.
Preliminary accreditation allows ASU to begin recruiting students and marks the first major milestone in the multi-step accreditation process. The next phase is provisional accreditation, which the school may apply for after enrolling students and demonstrating continued progress in meeting LCME standards. Full accreditation is typically granted after the first class graduates and the program has shown it can sustain those standards in practice.
