By Kris Lovekin – Special to the VOICE
An admiring crowd of 700 people
cheered on the inaugural class of 50
students in UC Riverside’s School
of Medicine on Friday, Aug. 9. Each
student slipped into the doctor’s white coat, held
by a faculty member, to mark the beginning of
four years of hard work.
The live string quartet, floral arrangements,
beautiful programs and colorful lights are not
typical for UCR’s Student Recreation Center — the
home court of UCR basketball — but the campus
needed its biggest room to fit the students,
the families, the faculty and all the community
supporters of this new kind of medical school,
designed to increase the supply of primary
care doctors practicing in the Inland Empire.
“I’ve been telling the students this is a once
in a lifetime event, like the sighting of Haley’s
comet, said Kendrick A. Davis, director of medical
education for the UCR School of Medicine. “It is
rare that you are in the right spot and you can take
advantage of it. It is beyond a milestone. You are
talking about embarking on something that hasn’t
really been done, the way that we are doing it,” he
said. “Every person involved in this is a pioneer,
so you have to be excited about it, and be willing
to put in all the work to make this successful.”
The mission of the UCR School of Medicine
is to improve the health of the Inland Empire by
producing culturally diverse primary care doctors
who will stay and practice medicine in the area,
which has a chronic shortage of doctors. UCR
has had the first part of a medical school program
for more than 30 years, but the students always
finished their work at other medical schools,
including UCLA. Now medical school students can
stay to finish their M.D. UCR is also developing
residency training programs in partnership with
regional hospitals.
The effort to establish the school took a
concerted community effort over many years,
capped off recently with a state budget deal that
included $15 million in annual funding, thanks
to the successful advocacy of the Inland Empire
Caucus, the Monday Morning Group and Inland
Action.
“We are at the end of a long relay,” said Dr.
G. Richard Olds, the founding dean of the School
of Medicine. “Each time we had a roadblock, our
community doubled down on their effort. I want to
thank everyone for that effort.”
Five people earned honorary white coats
for the heavy lifting in the last stretch of a 10-
year long relay race:State Sen. Richard
Roth; Assemblymember Jose Medina; Interim
Chancellor Jane Close Conoley; and two leaders
from the University of California Office of the
President, Dan Dooley and Patrick Lenz.
The goal is a healthier California, at a time
when Obama’s Affordable Care Act is creating
more opportunities to get medical insurance for
the uninsured.
Olds thanked all the organizations and
individuals who pulled together to create the
mosaic of a medical school — financial support,
political will, hospital partnerships, professional
accreditation, top faculty, students and staff, all
following a clear mission.
“Ultimately, our strongest supporters have
always been our community, individually and
collectively,” he said. He noted the Riverside
Chamber of Commerce, the California Medical
Association, the Riverside County Board of
Supervisors, the Desert Healthcare District,
the Greater Riverside Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, the Citizens University Committee,
the Vines Society, and the medical associations
in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, among
many others.
Friday’s ceremony served as a reminder
about the role of doctors in our lives, the witness
to our births and our deaths, our tragedies and
our recoveries.
“We need to include the patient, as well as the
families, in the decisions about their health,” said
Dr. Phyllis A. Guze, the executive dean for the
school and the keynote speaker at the ceremony.
She told a story about her own hospitalization
after an accident, and how many times she felt
that the doctors were asking how she was, but
not listening to her answer.
“But one of my physicians asked me what I
thought, and listened,” Guze said. “He brought
to me the human, personal touch, and I will be
forever grateful. So I challenge you, as you start
your career, to be the doctor that you want to go
to, if you get sick.”
Janel Gracia, one of the members of the first
class, said she was inspired. She said receiving
her own coat “makes it feel 100 percent real.”
She did her undergraduate work at UC Riverside
and currently serves as a mentor in the outreach
programs that build a pipeline of culturally diverse
college students qualified to go to medical school.
The week of orientation has convinced her that
she made the right choice for medical school.
“We are all becoming good friends,” she said. “In
four years we will be best friends.”
Jaire Saunders, another member of the class,
was surrounded by his parents and a brother who
were beaming with pride as they talked about this
new accomplishment in his life.
Gracia, Saunders, and all the members of the
first class have what it takes to launch the school
on the right foot, said Davis, who has a Ph.D.
in educational psychology, and got to know the
students during orientation. “I’m an evaluator,
I’m the data guy for the UCR School of Medicine,
for evaluation, measurement and assessment.
“I was blown away,” he said. “I think they are a
stellar class.”