Hofstra University has partnered with one of the nation's largest hospital systems to establish a new medical school on the Hofstra campus in Hempstead, New York. The new medical school plans to offer an MD degree program beginning in fall 2011, subject to receiving preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee for Medical Education and state approval.

The medical school is a response to an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) report that recommended that enrollment in medical colleges be increased by 30% by 2015.

Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz and Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer of North Shore-LIJ Health System, said The Hofstra University School of Medicine in partnership with North Shore-LIJ would be the first allopathic (M.D.) medical school in Nassau County on Long Island and the first new allopathic medical school established in New York State since 1963.

The 2006 AAMC report cited U.S. population increases, a doubling of citizens over the age of 65 between 2000 and 2030, and an aging physician workforce in calling for an increase in medical school enrollment.

"The establishment of a new medical school brings new research and cutting-edge scholarship to our campus, provides our region with better health care resources and allows Hofstra University's standing in the international academic community to continue to grow," said President Rabinowitz.

"Partnering with Hofstra University on a medical school will further enhance the North Shore-LIJ Health System's ability to recruit nationally renowned physicians and researchers, which will go a long way toward bolstering the quality of health care on Long Island and enhancing the region's standing as an epicenter for groundbreaking medical research," said Mr. Dowling.

Hofstra and the North Shore-LIJ Health System will each provide teaching faculty for the new school.

Hofstra has a strong reputation as an institution of academic excellence, both nationally and internationally, an undergraduate and graduate student body with increasingly strong credentials, schools of law, business, liberal arts and sciences, communications, and education that provide exceptional interdisciplinary opportunities, nationally renowned faculty who are excellent teachers and scholars, and an existing admissions and student services infrastructure. The North Shore-LIJ Health System, as the third largest health system in the nation, brings a first-class group of hospitals, health care facilities and research institutions, and some of the nation's best-respected physicians and researchers.

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