FIU Medical School Earns Accreditation
Miami Herald
Florida International University has received accreditation for its medical school, an enormous milestone in the young school's history and a move that could remake the face of medical care, research and education in South Florida.
The decision to accredit FIU was made Tuesday by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, a national organization, and FIU president Modesto ''Mitch'' Maidique received a call around 10:15 p.m. alerting him, he said. The decision means that FIU can begin receiving applications for its first class of medical students, scheduled to begin their first semester in fall 2009.
''The preliminary accreditation of the medical school is certainly in the 22 years since I've been president the greatest moment in our history,'' Maidique said in an interview late Tuesday. "We've become part of a very special group, one of 126 American universities that have medical schools. It is a fundamental piece of becoming a major urban public university.''
FIU's medical school is now among only two or three universities that have received accreditation in the United States in the past 20 years. FIU's medical school must still clear two more accreditation hurdles before they received final accreditation, but the preliminary accreditation is the most important, Maidique said.
FIU is planning to introduce a revolutionary concept in medical education by pairing up students with families from around South Florida for several years to serve as their doctors and health consultants.
The medical school could eventually double FIU's operating and research budgets.
''The state of Florida is number one in the country in the number of uninsured adults and number two in the number of uninsured children,'' said Dr. Pedro Jose Greer, one of the founders of FIU's medical program. "We want to be able to improve the care of people and the quality of life in our community.''
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