Missouri Southern medical school plans hit setback

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences' board of directors on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would partner Missouri Southern State University and KCUMB in efforts to bring a medical school to Joplin.

MSSU president Bruce Speck and KCUMB past president Karen Pletz had been structuring the deal since January 2009, and met with regional business leaders, government officials and local hospitals in late June to promote the proposal.

Pletz was fired from KCUMB in December, however, and the institution has since filed a lawsuit against her. In February of this year, interim KCUMB president H. Danny Weaver suggested that his school's board was wavering on going forward with the proposal, which would call for MSSU to raise $10 million to finance construction of a medical school building in Joplin that would serve as a satellite campus for KCUMB.

The KCUMB board voted unanimously Tuesday to reject the proposal.

Larry McIntire, chairman of the local steering committee for the proposed medical school and a physician at Freeman Health System, said the rejection from KCUMB was somewhat expected and that it doesn't eliminate the possibility of a medical school in Joplin, just delays it longer than most would like.

"I don't think it sets us back too much," McIntire said. "I think we're going to be OK. Our commitment is retained and we consider this a noble cause. You can count on the fact that we will move ahead."

McIntire first presented the idea of a medical school at MSSU in 2008, but his initial proposal for a stand-alone program derailed as the projected startup cost for such a project passed $70 million.

The idea to partner with KCUMB quickly began to develop after McIntire presented his idea to Pletz in early 2009. KCUMB is the largest medical school in the state in terms of student population and one of the oldest osteopathic medical schools in the U.S. There are more than 300 KCUMB graduates in southwest Missouri.

McIntire said he is disappointed that the partnership between KCUMB was rejected, but that there are other partnerships to pursue, including ongoing discussions with osteopathic medicine school A.T. Still University in Kirksville.

Read more about the situation at the Joplin Tri-State Business Journal Web site.