Creighton University, based in Omaha, Neb., has announced plans for a major expansion of its existing health sciences programs in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the Jesuit-run university will build a nearly $100 million health sciences campus in Phoenix.
Phase one of the project includes a new building totaling 200,000 square feet and eventually will house nearly 800 Creighton health sciences students in Arizona, the university says.
The expansion will include a four-year medical school, nursing school, occupational and physical therapy schools, pharmacy school, physician assistant school and emergency medical services program. A second building adjacent to the first may be added in the future.
Construction will start next spring, and is expected to be completed in spring 2021.
This will increase Creighton’s presence in Phoenix, giving students in its health sciences programs more training opportunities.
Dale Davenport, senior associate dean of the Creighton School of Medicine, says Arizona does not have enough primary care physicians and general surgeons to serve a large, growing population, including an increasing elderly population.
And he says that Creighton’s two largest hospital and clinical partners in the Phoenix area — Dignity Health’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, and Maricopa Integrated Health System — asked Creighton to expand its Phoenix programs.
About nine years ago, Creighton started a branch campus at Phoenix’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center for third- and fourth-year med students. That campus now is home to about 100 Creighton medical students, the university says. In January, Creighton launched an accelerated bachelor of nursing program in Phoenix.
Creighton and its partners formed a group last year called the Creighton-Arizona Health Education Alliance.
