Vinik open to med school in downtown Tampa

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TAMPA A push to bring the University of South Florida medical school to downtown Tampa has received a shot in the arm, with key landowner Jeff Vinik saying he will support the schools leaders as they explore the concept.

While tactfully avoiding specifics, a statement from Viniks companies nonetheless suggests that the Tampa Bay Lightning owner is listening as Mayor Bob Buckhorn, downtowns biggest cheerleader, touts the potential move as a game changer for the city.

We have great respect for the mayor and his leadership, the statement from Viniks companies said. We understand the value that an increased USF presence could have for our downtown and also understand how an urban school could benefit the University.

This is a model we have seen in many other urban centers and we look forward to supporting USFs leaders as they explore this and other ideas that help make the university and our region succeed.

Vinik owns more than 20 acres downtown. He controls the Channelside Bay Plaza entertainment complex and has plans to build a 400-room hotel near Amalie Arena, the hockey teams home ice.

Buckhorn has made no secret of his wish to have a downtown medical school.

A university or a portion of a university in your urban core pays huge dividends for both the city and, in this case, for USF, he said. I am very, very hopeful and will do whatever I can to make it happen and encourage them to move downtown.

The one player not showing its cards on a potential move, however, is USF Health.

On Friday, the school issued a statement via email: USF Health is in the process of developing plans to build two new facilities, the Morsani College of Medicine building and the USF Health Heart Institute. We are currently exploring various options to determine the optimum location for each of these facilities, the statement reads.

The USF Health Heart Institute, which is a new concept, is being planned as a 100,000-square-foot, five-story research center in the universitys medical corridor on the main campus.

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Vinik open to med school in downtown Tampa

UHAS starts medical school

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General News of Sunday, 21 September 2014

Source: Sodzi-Tettey, Sodzi

The University of Health & Allied Sciences (UHAS) is starting its medical degree programme in the 2014 academic year. This was announced by Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, Chairman of Council, during the swearing in of the first fully constituted Council of the University by the Honorable Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman in Ho this week.

In a follow up interview, UHAS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fred Binka, revealed that admissions of medical students are currently in progress with 800+ applicants out of which over 90 have an aggregate of up to eight. From this number, about 50 students will finally be admitted to form the first medical class after taking an aptitude test and undergoing selection interviews. Some consideration will be given to a few students from disadvantaged schools in the Volta region.

Expectedly, this announcement has stimulated questions about the readiness of the three year old University, adequacy of its faculty, preparedness of the Volta Regional Hospital to serve as a Teaching Hospital etc. It was for purposes of addressing these that I happily cornered Prof. Binka.

Firstly, UHAS has started the accreditation process prescribed by the National Accreditation Board with the first review done with approval to roll out a three year pre-clinical programme. This means that it is only after three years that full blown clinical training requiring a fully equipped Teaching hospital may be necessary. This notwithstanding, the Vice Chancellor pointed out that the current state of the Volta Regional Hospital is no different from the Central Regional Hospital, which is now serving as a Teaching Hospital for the University of Cape Coast Medical School. Even so, plans for further upgrades are being drawn.

UHASs model for medical training appears to be a departure from what has become the norm in Ghana. UHASs strategy aims to deviate from the norm where the location of Teaching Hospitals has seen an over concentration of health professionals in the regional capital even as hospitals in surrounding districts suffer crippling shortages of key staff thereby raising fundamental questions about whether the full benefits of a present and functional medical school have been maximized. A typical example is the Tamale Teaching Hospital which has over 100+ doctors although the rest of the 26 districts in the region overseen by the Ghana Health Service collectively has less than 30 doctors, thus raising questions about hunger in the midst of plenty.

The UHAS model plans to strengthen both the Centre the Teaching Hospital and surrounding existing District Hospitals which would all be deployed as training sites with Specialists on site to serve as faculty for medical students on rotation. As a practical demonstration of this model, UHAS has recently recruited an Orthopedic Surgeon as a part time lecturer who continues to be based, not in the Regional capital, but in St. Anthonys Hospital, in Dzodze in the Ketu North district.

This year, UHAS has rolled out a visionary sponsorship programme to train 11 specialists at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons to serve as faculty and to offer service to the region. Six of these doctors are currently being sponsored by UHAS to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emergency Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and laboratory Medicine. Five of them are already specialists and are being supported to sub specialize in Urology, Gynecological Oncology, Trauma and Orthopedics and General Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In the short term, most of these doctors are training outside the Volta region in accredited facilities with the understanding that any breaks will be spent in hospitals in the Volta region. In these hospitals, programs will be outlined to provide enriching practical experiences that will augment whatever skills are being acquired during their training.

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UHAS starts medical school

Top Stories

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Details Category: Top Stories Published on Friday, 19 September 2014 01:00 Written by Nicholas Shanmac

Officials at Washington State University believe the time has come to pursue an independently accredited medical school at WSU Spokane, and they say Southwest Washington and WSU Vancouver are well-positioned to benefit.

Last week, the WSU Board of Regents unanimously approved a resolution directing university leadership to pursue approval for a school of medicine. That resolution came after a presentation by representatives from MGT of America a national consulting firm hired by WSU to study the feasibility of the university pursuing its own medical school.

According to MGTs report, a WSU school of medicine could help to alleviate a severe physician shortage in areas outside of the Seattle area. The University of Washington in Seattle is currently the states only public medical school, and the study contends that the number of available slots for medical students at that school hasnt kept pace with the states population. Additionally, the study revealed that 18 of 39 counties in Washington have 10 or fewer physicians per 10,000 residents, while King County has more than four times as many.

The data has been pretty compelling in talking about the need for increased physicians and how that need will continue to grow [in] Southwest Washington, said WSU Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer.

Preliminary accreditation of the school could be earned in early 2016, with a charter class of 40 students beginning in fall 2017. By the 2021-22 school year the institution could graduate 120 students per year.

Local impact

The university aims to follow a community-based medical education model where students would spend their first two years on the Spokane campus and then go into communities throughout the state for clinical training with existing care providers like PeaceHealth and Legacy Health.

Mike Worthy, chair of the Board of Regents, and Ken Roberts, acting dean of WSU, agreed that this approach is ideal for students, communities like Clark County and care providers.

The traditional medical school that would have a teaching hospital generating revenue and taking in patients competes with other medical care providers, Worthy said. With this community-based model were not competing with any medical service providers. We can partner with all of them.

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Top Stories

Julie Fox, Libertarian For Illinois Comptroller 2014 – Ad 1 – Video

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Julie Fox, Libertarian For Illinois Comptroller 2014 - Ad 1
Julie Fox is the 2014 Libertarian candidate for Comptroller in Illinois. She is a Certified Public Accountant, and the ONLY accountant running for the accounting position of comptroller. More...

By: DuPage Libertarians

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Julie Fox, Libertarian For Illinois Comptroller 2014 - Ad 1 - Video

Libertarian an alternative in governor's race

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JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.

Beer containers aren't usually a topic in Florida gubernatorial races, but for Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie the state's ban on small brewers filling half-gallon jugs illustrates how regulations reward campaign contributors and stifle competitors.

Sipping a pint of Count Shakula chocolate oatmeal stout, Wyllie chatted with a Green Room Brewing customer about how the Republican-led Legislature blocked the legalization of half-gallon growlers or refillable beer jugs when quart and gallon growlers can be filled and sold in limitless amounts at Florida breweries. Behind the defeat was one of the state's Budweiser distributors, who is a longtime supporter of Senate President Don Gaetz and could lose business if craft brewers gain customers.

"Tallahassee shouldn't be setting up road blocks for small businesses, they should be clearing them out of the way," said Wyllie, who visited the Jacksonville Beach pub during a month-long tour of Florida craft breweries to promote his campaign.

Wyllie, 44, of Palm Harbor, is a longshot, but he is gaining support as voters are turned off by their choices in what's become one of the most negative campaigns waged in Florida. Republican Gov. Rick Scott still struggles with his approval rating and polls show many voters also don't trust Republican-turned-Democrat former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Recent polls show Wyllie getting about 5 percent of the vote, which would be a Florida record for a statewide Libertarian candidate. Wyllie is the first Libertarian to run for governor in Florida, but the party's presidential and Senate candidates have never topped a half-percent. Wyllie has raised about $80,000, a fraction of the $24 million Crist has raised and the $45 million Scott has received.

"Voters are so frustrated by both parties that I wouldn't be surprised if the third-party candidate did better than they usually do," said Matthew Corrigan, a University of North Florida political science professor. "If Wyllie gets 5 to 10 percent, that could have a major impact on our governor's race depending on which way voters go."

As a Libertarian, Wyllie believes government should stay out of most personal and business affairs as long as no one is harmed. He wants to cut state spending, taxes and regulations but he also supports gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana and abortion rights. It's a philosophy that appeals to some Democrats and some Republicans.

Wyllie, who owns a small information technology consulting firm, believes the Legislature's treatment of craft brewers shows what's wrong with government. Instead of helping a rapidly growing industry, Republicans agreed to lift the ban on half-gallon growlers but only if the small brewers agreed to additional regulations that would have restricted their growth. The bill died.

"Some of these brewers would actually have to sell their beer to a distributor and buy it back at an increased cost before they could sell it in their own establishment. That's ridiculous," Wyllie said.

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Libertarian an alternative in governor's race

Two Courtney challengers take pride in libertarian leanings

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Published September 21. 2014 4:00AM

Of the three candidates challenging U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, as he seeks a fifth term in Congress, at least two think many of the nation's problems can be solved by reducing the size of the government.

Congressional hopefuls Dan Reale, a freelance paralegal from Plainfield, and Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh, a real estate broker who ran for mayor of New London in 2011, don't hide their libertarian leanings. They speak of limiting the federal government and talk about the Constitution with reverence. Neither has held political office before. Each of them sought the Republican endorsement in May and the Libertarian endorsement in late June.

Although their philosophies are similar, Reale, who is running as a Libertarian, and Hopkins-Cavanagh, who is on the Republican ticket, bring different platforms, priorities and backgrounds to the race against Courtney and Green Party candidate Bill Clyde.

Hopkins-Cavanagh beat out Reale and a third candidate for the Republican nomination. Although she is affiliated with the Connecticut Libertarian Party, which requires her to pay dues of $25 a year and sign a nonaggression pledge, Hopkins-Cavanagh is a registered Republican and describes herself as a "constitutional conservative."

"If (former President Ronald) Reagan's a libertarian, then yes, I'm the same Republican that Reagan was," said Hopkins-Cavanagh, 54, who said she is primarily interested in the emphasis libertarians put on "fiscal responsibility."

Although Reale, 32, lost his bid for the Republican nomination, he won the support of Libertarians for the third time in a row. This will be the first time Reale won't need to petition to get his name on the ballot, because he received more than 1 percent of the vote in 2012.

He's thrilled that he has automatic ballot access this year, because petition drives "take pieces of your soul out."

Reale said he sought the Republican nomination at the request of friends in the party who said they were dissatisfied with their choices and didn't seem deterred by his loss.

"I'm a Libertarian. I don't just believe in it, I live it," said Reale, who stayed in the race in 2012 despite going through a divorce, dealing with his mother's death and suffering from pneumonia.

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Two Courtney challengers take pride in libertarian leanings

A Scottish Libertarian Deconstructs the Vote

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Jeff Deist and David Farrer deconstruct Thursdays referendum vote from a libertarian perspective.

David is a Chartered Secretary and has a BA (Hons) in Modern History and Economics. After living in London for many years where he worked as Finance Director and Company Secretary of an advertising agency, David has now returned to Scotland and is a director of Midlothian Management Ltd. David is a member of the Libertarian Alliance, the Mises Institute, the National Trust for Scotland, Historic Scotland and the Edinburgh Photographic Society.

The interview is also available on Stitcher and at Mises.org.

Note: The views expressed in Daily Articles on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.

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David is a Chartered Secretary and has a BA (Hons) in Modern History and Economics. After living in London for many years where he worked as Finance Director and Company Secretary of an advertising agency, David has now returned to Scotland and is a director of Midlothian Management Ltd. David is a member of the Libertarian Alliance, the Mises Institute, the National Trust for Scotland, Historic Scotland and the Edinburgh Photographic Society. See David Farrer's article archives.

You can subscribe to future articles by David Farrer via this RSS feed.

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A Scottish Libertarian Deconstructs the Vote