On February 3, 2022, for League @ Nite, our Healthcare Committee brought us a panel presentation about the new Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine (KPSOM), located right in downtown Pasadena at the corner of Green Street and Los Robles Avenue. You might ask why we need another medical school. There were already 191 accredited MD and DO degree granting schools in the United States and 12 allopathic (MD) schools and three osteopathic (DO) schools in California before KPSOM opened its doors in July 2020 to fifty new medical students. In seeking an answer to that question, we learned a lot about what is unique and innovative about this new allopathic medical school.
First, although affiliated with and supported by the Kaiser Family Foundation, medical students at KPSOM are not being groomed to become Kaiser physicians or to work in Kaiser hospitals. They are being prepared to work in any medical endeavor or arena of their own choosing and will have no obligation to Kaiser when they graduate.
Second, we learned that unlike many traditional medical schools, this medical school emphasizes what is called “health systems science,” which means that in addition to studying traditional biomedical science and clinical science, medical students must study how healthcare is affected by relationships in the healthcare system and relationships that the patient has with his or her family and community. This science addresses issues of safety, quality, caring, equity, community, and the social determinants of health.
Third, we learned that, to date, students are admitted without concerns about their ability to pay medical school tuition. The first five graduating classes at KPSOM are guaranteed free tuition and are offered financial assistance for living expenses. The school administration is exploring options in an effort to extend the free tuition benefit beyond the current five-year time frame.
Finally, we learned about the current enrolled student profile: The mean age is 24 years, 47 percent come from out of state, 51 percent are women, 38 percent come from groups that are underrepresented in medicine, 34 percent come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and 20 percent are first-generation students to go to college.
Although tours of the new medical school were not possible because of COVID-19 protections, you can take a virtual tour with the CEO and Founding Dean, Dr. Mark Shuster. I watched this video and saw that medical school has greatly changed since I went to medical school back in the Pleistocene Era. We never had coffee bars, yoga gardens, meditation rooms, or virtual cadavers. The word relax in the context of medical students was never ever mentioned. It was enough to make me want to do it all over again! Well, maybe.
—Margan Zajdowicz, Co-chair, Healthcare Committee
