Marian University unveils $150M campaign for health sciences, plans to expand med school enrollment

Marian University on Friday announced a $150 million campaign to raise funds for its health sciences programs—an effort aimed at increasing enrollment from 162 to 185 students per class in its College of Osteopathic Medicine to meet the growing demand for physicians, particularly in primary care.

The private Catholic university, located on the city’s west side, said it also plans to launch degree programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy and other rehabilitative health care services, and expand undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, with additional locations.

“With the projected need for physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, and other health care roles over the next 25 years, now is the time for bold action,” President Daniel J. Elsener said in written remarks.

The university said it has already raised $53 million toward its $150 million goal, anchored by a previously announced $29 million gift from Julie Wood and the Tom and Julie Wood Family Foundation.

The university said in July that in recognition of the gift, the medical school will be named the Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine. Tom Wood was a prominent car dealer who died in 2010 due to lung cancer. On Friday, the university unveiled a sign outside the college with its new name.

The university’s push to expand its health care programs comes as Indiana faces a serious shortage of health care professionals, particularly in its rural communities. Rural areas, which account for 29 percent of the state’s population, are home to only 13 percent of the state’s physicians, the university said.

Other components of the university’s health care expansion include offering “robust” scholarships for students in pre-medicine, pre-physical therapy, and pre-occupational therapy programs; strengthening research initiatives; increasing clinical partnerships; developing graduate medical education programs; and expanding the Michael A. Evans Center for Health Sciences. Evans was a major donor to the university.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine, which opened in 2013, last year celebrated more than 1,000 graduates, with 79 percent of the physicians entering primary care, emergency medicine, psychiatry and general surgery, “directly addressing critical physician shortages in underserved areas.”

The university said 67% of its osteopathic graduates participate in residency programs in Indiana and surrounding states.

Founded in 1937, Marian University offers programs in the arts, business, education, engineering, math, medicine, nursing, ministry and natural and physical sciences.