Plans for UPEI medical school leap forward after city planning board approval

Plans to create UPEI's new medical school are taking a significant step forwardas Charlottetown's planning board sent the school's public consultation request forcouncil approval.

The request is expected to be approvedat a special council meeting Wednesday, which would give the go-ahead for the school to gauge public interest and reaction to the expansive constructionproject.

"Everyone is very excited about this movement forward that we have and it's a steady progress," said Greg Keefe, interim president of UPEI.

"If you look at the work that has gone into developing this building, the thoughtfulness that's gone into the design, people will see the benefits moving forward and everyone, I think, will be very much behind this idea."

The new school of medicine campus will be built on vacant land on the school's north side behind Alumni Hall on University Avenue, close to Royalty Crossing (formerly known as the Charlottetown Mall) and the Confederation Trail.

The first phaseof the projectwill see the construction of the five-storey medical school building, approximately 139,200 square feet.Among many services, it will have asimulation- and clinical-learning centre; amedical, psychology and ADHD clinic; student, faculty and administration spaces and more.

Once the request is approved at the special council meeting this week, next up will be public meetings for UPEI.

Planning committee chair Terry MacLeodsaid he doesn't expect any issue at the special council meeting Wednesday, and that council and the public will wantto see the project to the end.

"UPEI is a big part of the city of Charlottetown this certainly will bring the city up another level again," he said. "There's not that many cities around that have this type of infrastructure so we're very pleased that this is happening."

First wave of students expectedfall2024

The co-degree programa partnership with Memorial University of Newfoundland was announced in the fall of 2021, alongside an expansion of UPEI's nursing program and health centre. At that time,Health P.E.I. CEO Dr. Michael Gardamexpressed concerns about the colossal amount of work required to introduce a new school of medicine.

A year later,expectations are still high and the school is ready to meet them, Keefe said. The clinics on-site will be staffed to potentially take stress off a health-care system in crisis.

"We're going to have new physicians coming into the province that will be staffing the clinic. Overall the clinic will aim to service about 10,000 individuals," he said.

"We think we're part of the solution. Training new physicians, adding capacity to the health-care system with the clinic as well. We're working closely with the medical community to make sure we're doing this in a proper way."

The diplomaoffered through the program will bea joint doctor of medicine degree in partnership with Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Learningwill be primarily based on Memorial University'scurriculum "and be modified based on UPEI's strengths to meet the needs of Islanders," according to the school's website.

If construction all goes according to plan, it's expected that the first wave of students will begin their studying at the school of medicine byfall 2024.