On Feb. 26, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors hosted Dr. Michael Richards, University of New Mexico Health Systems CEO and executive vice president of UNM Health Sciences, as he updated the board on the UNM School of Medicine and UNM Health Sciences update.
Richards and UNM are celebrating a win as the Legislature supported funding for a new School of Medicine. He said the funding for the new medical school will impact New Mexicans for generations and it begins to build a better health care system for the state.
Richards continued by saying that the top reasons physicians in the School of Medicine leave New Mexico are:
- Personal/family matter
- Salary
- Department leadership
- Work/life balance
- Work environment
Meanwhile, the UNM faculty retention is 32% above the national average, which the university is looking to grow.
Richards said the strategy to continue to grow health care in NM is to expand, train, retain and recruit those in the medical field. He pointed to the college of nursing to have grown 32.6% in the fall 24-25. Currently there are 1,274 students. In the pharmacy school the enrollment for fall 24-25 saw a 3.3% growth with 212 students in total.
And the population health saw enrollment increases by 20.3% as a major with 127 total students. He noted the enrollment increase across UNM Health Sciences College is 15.9% and the graduation increased by 16.3%.
With funding in place, Richards said Fitz Hall, which was built in 1967, will not be used and a new building will be built. The proposed site is near University Boulevard and Lomas Boulevard.
Richards said UNM hopes to build a health care hub around the new trauma center towers and school of medicine. With the building of a new School of Medicine, Dr. Richards said there will be a $290 million direct economic impact, which includes 565 direct new jobs. The project will also get New Mexico $32.2 million in new state and local tax revenue.
To see his entire presentation, click here.
The Chamber continues to support advances within the New Mexico health care system as there is a need to fill those gaps. We are proud of the work of our legislators and UNM for continuing to make change.