University of the Pacific eyes fall 2030 start for Stockton medical school

A new medical school is planned for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, college officials and local leaders announced Thursday.

The announcement comes after a year of work to organize the funding and support needed to open the school.

"This is a truly historic day. The physician shortages across our region – across the Central Valley – are so deep, so severe, and they're growing each and every day," Pacific President Christopher Callahan said.

Callahan said the shortage is partly due to the fact that there are no M.D.-granting medical schools in the Central Valley between the Bay Area and Sacramento to the north and Los Angeles to the south.

"We have to do this. We need more physicians across the Central Valley," Callahan said.

In March, the Stockton City Council approved a $7 million federal funding application on Pacific's behalf. The university has also committed $50 million toward the estimated $150 million cost of the new medical school.

Private donors have already pledged $20 million, with the rest of the cost expected to be funded through philanthropic and corporate partnerships.

Dignity Health's St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton will be a major partner for Pacific's new medical school, Callahan noted.

The search for the founding dean will start next week, Callahan said. Student recruiting is expected to begin in 2029.

Callahan said the hope is for the first cohort of medical students to start by fall 2030, with the goal of eventually building a 400-student school.