Mary Washington Healthcare and the University of Mary Washington — both based in Fredericksburg, Va. — plan to partner to develop a new medical school.
Five things to know:
1. Mary Washington Healthcare and UMW are in early stages of a joint venture to launch the medical school — which would be the first in Northern Virginia — and plan to hold a formal vote in 2026 to move forward with the project, leaders told Virginia Business.
2. Both organizations conducted a feasibility study on the launch of a medical school in the Fredericksburg region, which “came out very favorably,” Christopher Newman, MD, CEO of Mary Washington Healthcare, said during an Oct. 15 work session with the Fredericksburg City Council, according to the Fredericksburg Free Press.
3. The physician shortage is particularly acute in the region and is the impetus behind the proposal, Dr. Newman said.
“For every 100,000 residents, we have roughly 40 positions,” Dr. Newman said during the council meeting. “The average community, which is short-staffed in itself, has about 80. Anybody here who is looking for a primary care physician or a certain specialist and where your doctor requires that you move to the area, you realize how difficult it can be to find access to care in this region.”
4. Leaders at the organizations envision a medical school that is focused on training community physicians who remain practicing in the region upon graduation, rather than a specialized, research-focused institution.
“[The University of Virginia] is training cardiologists who may go and practice at Hopkins or Harvard or train the next generation,” Dr. Newman said. “They are not training, for the most part, community physicians. They’re going to be committed to taking care of patients in the community. And there’s nothing wrong with being an academic center … that’s all great, but that does not solve the problem that we have.”
5. The medical school could open in 2029, should project planning and regulatory approvals go as planned.
