By Amy E. Spittler
The face of the medical education system in Utah changed when the Huntsman Cancer Institute opened its doors Sept. 13.
Not only does the facility host some of the newest and most innovative cancer research equipment available, but it also represents a joining of efforts with students at the University of Utah’s only graduate medical program.
This development also affects a large number of pre-med students enrolled at BYU, many of whom will be looking to the University of Utah to continue their medical education. But it also raises the question: With a thriving pre-med program and a reputation for academic competitiveness, why doesn’t BYU have a graduate medical school of its own?
Academic Vice President Alan Wilkins said the issue deals less with student demand and more with the financial and business aspect of implementing and maintaining a medical school.
“Medical schools are just huge cash hogs,” Wilkins said. “You really have to set up a whole hospital, and the funds needed to do that, among other things, would just impoverish some of the university’s other programs.”
Insufficient funds provide one of the biggest roadblocks to creating a medical school for BYU, Wilkins said.
The reasons for this lack of funds is due largely to the the University of Utah’s program. Were BYU to implement a graduate medical school of its own, it would have to compete for an already limited patient base with the University of Utah’s extensive program.
“There’s just not enough here,” Wilkins said. “You couldn’t make it go as a business.”
Jim Porter, associate professor of zoology at BYU, shares this view of a patient shortage.
“I know we’ve got another medical school up in Salt Lake and I just don’t know if I could justify a med school for BYU based on patient need,” he said.
Porter doesn’t deny the fact, however, that BYU’s pre-med program serves a large base of students at the university.
“Many students are on a pre-med track … I probably see hundreds, I’m sure, that are pursuing pre-med degrees,” he said.
Dan Ryssman, a junior majoring in zoology, is one of these hundreds of students. He said he plans to continue his medical education in graduate school, but sees the idea of a program for that purpose at BYU as one that would interest him and, possibly, many of his peers.
“I think there would be a lot of demand for a med school at BYU. There’s so many pre-med students here,” Ryssman said. “I’d love to stay here at BYU if there was a program comparable to, say, University of Utah’s or some of the other schools.”
Such a program, however, would not be in accordance with the mission of education at BYU, Wilkins said.
“Our primary role is to prepare students to go elsewhere, whether to another educational institution or a career,” he said. “We’re a feeder school. That’s part of the heart of our mission.”
There are other options for students who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field but want to stay at BYU. The university offers a highly competitive graduate nursing program and graduate degrees in the fields of zoology and microbiology — degrees that adapt well to medical research and can prepare a student for further medical training.
“We even have a family nurse practitioner program that prepares students to be able to treat common illness, write prescriptions and perform some of the other less clinical functions,” said Mary Williams, graduate coordinator for the College of Nursing.
So, while there are many opportunities for growth in the medical education field, BYU remains without a medical school. And it will stay that way for quite some time, Wilkins said.
“There has been no serious discussion, in the six years I’ve been here, of a medical program,” he said. “I don’t even think it’s thought about anymore.”
