CHAMPAIGN A separate medical school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could be a \"game changer\" for the campus, but the UI should fix problems with its existing medical center in Chicago first, Chris Kennedy said Thursday. <\/p>\n
Kennedy, chair of the UI Board of Trustees, said the idea of a small, engineering-based medical school proposed by the campus \"has a lot of potential\" and could help Urbana attract top researchers in many fields. <\/p>\n
\"in the marketplace for talent, great university campuses have an academic medical center. When you try to explain that we don't, it's a little bit of a hollow sound,\" he said. <\/p>\n
But the UI Chicago's academic medical center is just breaking even, and that's with the state paying a quarter of its costs by covering retirement and many benefits, he said. <\/p>\n
\"We're losing a lot of money,\" he said. \"Before we create a second academic medical center, we ought to fix the one we have.\" <\/p>\n
The UI also needs a long-term plan for its medical enterprise that takes into account the needs of all its regional campuses, in Chicago, Rockford, Peoria and Urbana, he said. <\/p>\n
Those two components will be crucial for the UI to make its case with the state, Kennedy said. <\/p>\n
\"The ready, fire, aim playbook isn't one I like,\" he said. <\/p>\n
He sees Urbana and Chicago as unique campuses that need to be \"complementary in their evolution, not competitive.\" <\/p>\n
UI presidential search <\/p>\n
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Kennedy: Fix UIC med school before adding one in Urbana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHAMPAIGN A separate medical school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could be a \"game changer\" for the campus, but the UI should fix problems with its existing medical center in Chicago first, Chris Kennedy said Thursday. Kennedy, chair of the UI Board of Trustees, said the idea of a small, engineering-based medical school proposed by the campus \"has a lot of potential\" and could help Urbana attract top researchers in many fields. Continue reading