Quinnipiac University announced Thursday its recruitment of a top dean from the University of Connecticut’s medical school to help launch its own $75 million medical school in a couple years.
Bruce Koeppen, dean of academic affairs and education at UConn’s School of Medicine, has been appointed the founding dean of the Quinnipiac University School of Medicine.
He officially joins Quinnipiac Nov. 1.
In his new role, Koeppen will spearhead the direction of Quinnipiac’s proposed School of Medicine, working closely with the university’s academic leaders to shape the school’s educational framework.
Koeppen told HBJ Today that his first priority is building a leadership team.
“To have the opportunity to help build a medical school from the ground up is a once and a lifetime opportunity,” Koeppen said.
Koeppen will also be responsible for finalizing the school’s clinical affiliation partnerships, developing curriculum, recruiting faculty and an administrative team, and securing accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for medical schools.
“After an extensive national search, Dr. Koeppen emerged as the ideal individual to take on the enormous task of launching Quinnipiac’s new School of Medicine,” said Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey. “He brings to this new leadership role his extensive experience and success as an administrator, teacher and scholar in medical education.”
Quinnipiac announced in January plans to open a medical school, citing a national shortage of doctors which could intensify as a result of health care reform.
The university said it would begin the complex process of opening the medical school, enrolling the first class in 2013 or 2014 on its new campus in North Haven.
The initial class will have about 50 students and the school will eventually have 500.
The new school is expected to cost about $75 million.
As UConn med school dean, Koeppen was responsible for recent revisions and delivery of the four-year medical school curriculum, all of the integrated residency and fellowship programs in the greater Hartford area and the continuing education programs offered to the community by the faculty.
Before that, Koeppen was an active National Institutes of Health-funded researcher and teacher, with a career as a scholar and researcher, particularly in the area of renal physiology.Â
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