Cornell to open branch med school in Qatar

Expansion is the first but not expected to be the last as universities see opportunity for growth beyond U.S. borders.

By Jay Greene, amednews staff. May 21, 2001.

Officials of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York said they have plenty of time to address outstanding U.S. accreditation issues before their new branch campus in the small Persian Gulf country of Qatar opens in 2004.

Cornell surprised many in the U.S. medical community when it announced last month that it will establish a medical school campus outside the country. More than 30 U.S. medical schools have exchange programs or clerkship arrangements with international medical schools. But Cornell's 11-year, $750 million contract with Qatar to establish that country's first medical school marks the first time a U.S. medical school has exported its educational program.

The plan raises at least one important question for the Liaison Commission on Medical Education, the volunteer body that accredits the nation's 125 allopathic med schools: Will Cornell med school graduates in Qatar be considered U.S. medical school seniors for purposes of matching with a U.S. residency program?

If considered graduates of a U.S medical school, as Cornell officials believe, it would be the first time that students trained outside U.S. territories could avoid residency training certification requirements established by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.

"Students in Qatar will get a degree from Cornell just like our students in New York do," said Daniel Alonso, MD, newly appointed dean with the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and former senior associate dean for academic affairs and professor of pathology at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. "The LCME has never dealt with this, but they understand this is the beginning of the globalization of American medicine. Although we are the first, we won't be the last medical school to do this."

Frank Simon, MD, the LCME's co-secretary, said LCME will begin discussing the offshore branch concept this year. "We don't have any specific standards to guide us. It will be interesting," he said.

Under the contract with Qatar, Cornell will offer a six-year program divided into two premedical years and four years of medical education, Dr. Alonso said. The premedical program will be dedicated to the study of the sciences basic to medicine and will start in September 2002, he said. The medical curriculum will start in September 2004, and the first class will receive the Cornell doctor of medicine degree in May 2008.

Cornell expects a first-year class of 50 students in Qatar. While Cornell will control the curriculum, faculty and admissions, the agreement calls for 70% of the students to be native to Qatar, Dr. Alonso said. Some U.S. students also could be chosen, he said.

Qatar, which is the size of Connecticut, has one of the world's largest reserves of natural gas. Although Qatar operates several hospitals and provides free health care to its citizens, the country does not have a medical college.

Cornell officials would not discuss how much the medical school will be paid to run the Qatar campus. "It is a revenue stream," Dr. Alonso said. "Our school has been in the black for nine straight years, but we can't afford to lose money" with the Qatar branch.