It’s now official. Des Moines is the formal site of a regional branch campus for the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. A recent agreement between the Des Moines Area Medical Education Consortium and the UI Carver College of Medicine cements the arrangement for the next 10 years.

“We have had a long and productive partnership with the Des Moines Area Medical Education Consortium,” says Paul Rothman, M.D., dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. “Our students have been training in the Des Moines area for more than 40 years, and we have worked with the consortium since 1994 when it was established, so we are very pleased to officially formalize our branch campus.”

In recognition of the leadership that Steven R. Craig, M.D., is providing the branch campus, he has been named assistant dean of Student Affairs and Curriculum in the UI Carver College of Medicine. Craig has been the executive director of the Des Moines Area Medical Education Consortium since 2006 and is a long-time Des Moines area physician. He is also an internal medicine faculty physician at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, the VA Central Iowa Health Care System, and Broadlawns Medical Center.

Serving as the regional branch campus for the UI Carver College of Medicine is consistent with the Consortium’s mission, Craig says. “Our whole purpose is to support and promote high quality graduate and undergraduate medical education while helping meet the health care needs of Iowans through coordination and collaboration in medical education.”

Rothman says that as assistant dean, Craig will oversee the academic operations of the branch campus, including the students’ clinical educational experience, the educational environment, and recruitment and retention of faculty.

During this academic year, 80 UI Carver College of Medicine students are training in Des Moines—22 students in their third year of medical school; 28 students in individual clerkships; and 30 students in fourth-year student clerkships.

“The Consortium has always focused on providing students with an excellent educational experience that they find both challenging and rewarding, whether they are training in one of our five member institutions or out in our community settings,” Craig says.

The Des Moines Area Medical Education Consortium was established in 1994 as a charitable, scientific, and educational organization with an exclusive academic affiliation with the UI. Its five member hospitals are Broadlawns Medical Center, the Veterans Affairs Central Iowa Health Care System, and the Iowa Health Des Moines affiliated hospitals (Iowa Methodist/Methodist West, Iowa Lutheran Hospital, and Blank Children’s Hospital). The Consortium is supported by financial contributions of its members and is governed by a board of directors that includes the chief executive officer and one physician educator from each of the member institutions.