A medical school severely damaged by Hurricane Maria in September will relocate 1,400-plus students and staff to Harrogate, Tenn.-based Lincoln Memorial University's facilities in Knoxville, Tenn., medical school officials announced Nov. 8.
Students and staff at Ross University School of Medicine, located on the island of Dominica, will relocate to Tennessee to complete their winter semester at LMU. Medical school officials said the school will continue to use its own medical sciences curriculum and faculty, and simply conduct classes and laboratory work at LMU's facilities in Knoxville.
The transition is pending regulatory approval and officials are in the process of finalizing the details of the transition.
Ross University School of Medicine was severely damaged after Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island in September. Officials previously relocated students and staff onto a cruise ship ported just off the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean to finish their fall semester.
"While the island of Dominica continues to rebuild, we are pleased to have forged this arrangement with an outstanding university like LMU," said Ross University School of Medicine Dean and Chancellor William F. Owen, Jr., MD. "The continuity of our students' education and their academic programming is our highest priority, and we are pleased to work with LMU to make these extraordinary facilities available."