Collegiate Times

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine received its preliminary accreditation Wednesday.

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine received its preliminary accreditation June 3.

VTC met the standards of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for all medical schools in the U.S. and Canada.

The school, currently under construction in Roanoke, can now begin to accept applications for the 42 open slots for the first class, set for fall 2010.

Virginia Tech and Carilion announced the joint project to create a four-year medical School in 2007. VTC is both a medical school and a research institute.

Preliminary accreditation "is a direct result of the vision by leadership at Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic to capitalize on core strengths at each of these institutions," said Cynda Johnson, founding dean and president of VTC in a release from the university.

According to Dan Hunt, secretary and senior director of Accreditation Services for the LCME, potential medical programs generally prepare for about three years to receive the preliminary accreditation.

The LCME lists 130 standards under five areas that are evaluated for new programs, including its institutional setting, education program, medical students, faculty, and education resources.

The program must present detailed plans for its budgets, curriculum, admissions process, and administrative and staff hires for the first year especially, but also looking ahead for the entirety of the first class.

There are five medical schools at the preliminary accreditation level, according to the LCME Web site.

"This is a relatively new phenomenon," Hunt said. He said there was about a 20-year gap where no new programs were initiated, but now there is a "flurry of them" as the call for physicians increases. Many current programs have expanded to accept more students.

Tech also recently approved a Masters in Public Health program, a 42-hour credit program in which VTC medical students can also participate, as well as undergraduate students from Tech and students from the Virginia-MarylandRegional College of Veterinary Medicine.

"We have many areas of collaboration with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine," said VMRCVM Dean, Gerhardt Schurig, in a release from the university.

Tech will receive a provisional accreditation in the second year of the charter class. The final full accreditation will occur in the spring semester of the charter class' final year.

Click here to see a PDF copy of the guidelines for a new medical program