Missouri medical school opens Springfield campus

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The University of Missouri School of Medicine has opened a physician-training campus in Springfield.

The Springfield News- Leader reported the medical school, CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield hospitals celebrated the opening of the clinical campus Monday.

Officials say the new campus will allow medical students to complete their last two years of training while spending time learning at the two hospitals.

Chief academic officer for the medical school's Springfield clinical campus and associate professor of clinical medicine Andrew Evans said nine medical students will begin their last two years of training at the start of the 2016-2017 year.

According to a news release from the school, more than 90 percent of counties in Missouri lack adequate access to health-care professionals.

"Uniting our organizations to develop a second clinical campus in Springfield, Missouri, was by far the best way to expand health care and medical education in the communities we serve," he said in the release.

Chief medical officer for CoxHealth Frank Romero said giving students more options for clinical training increases the odds of putting more physicians in Springfield and southwest Missouri.

The new campus is part of a larger medical school expansion project taking place in Columbia, including the construction of the $42.5 million Patient-Centered Care Learning Center. The building is expected to open in 2017.

The school said the expansion is expected to add more than 300 physicians, 3,500 new health-care jobs and $390 million annually to the state's economy.

Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com