Leila Navidi

UNLV is in the planning stages for a medical school in which the first class would graduate in the year 2021. Above, UNLV nursing school students run through a simulation with a medical mannequin at the Clinical Simulation Center at Shadow Lane campus in Las Vegas. The nursing program is celebrating its 50th year at theuniversity.

By Jackie Valley (contact)

Sunday, March 22, 2015 | 2 a.m.

What does it take to build a medical school?

Lots and lots of planning.

Students wont arrive for another two years, but Barbara Atkinson, planning dean for the UNLV School of Medicine, has been busy crafting the schools curriculum, recruiting and hiring faculty and scouring the state for donors.

Supporters say Las Vegas first allopathic medical school will improve health care in Southern Nevada and be an economic driver.

To make that happen, though, UNLV and Nevada System of Higher Education officials say they need nearly $27 million up front from the state. Gov. Brian Sandoval has signaled he would support that funding, but he doesnt want to shell out the money all at once. He pledged $8.3 million for the medical school over the next two years, with the rest to follow in the next biennium.

UNLV also hopes to lure a large private donor or donors capable of giving $100 million to pay for medical school buildings.

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From the ground up: UNLV medical school taking shape