Mission and News

The mission of the University of Minnesota Medical School—Duluth Campus is to be a leader in educating physicians dedicated to family medicine, to serve the health care needs of rural Minnesota and American Indian communities and to discover and disseminate knowledge through research.

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Selecting and Educating Students to Enter Family Practice

Our focus is vital to the health of Minnesota because rural Minnesota communities have a critical, growing need for more family medicine physicians.  We have developed a unique, experiential two-year curriculum that includes, in addition to instruction in basic science, one-on-one clinical teaching experiences with a doctor in a small or Native American community. After their first two years here, Duluth students have a variety of options available to complete their medical education that include the Rural Physician Associate Program and clerkships in Duluth and Minneapolis/St. Paul.  

In 2007 the University of Minnesota Medical School was named one of the top 10 medical schools by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP recognized schools that, during a three-year period, graduated the highest percentage of students choosing family medicine, and a great many of the UofM graduates started on this Duluth campus.

In 1990 the Family Practice Preceptorship Program of the Medical School–Duluth received the National Outstanding Rural Health Program Award from the National Rural Health Association. This award recognized “a statewide or regional program which promotes or facilitates the development of rural health care systems.”

Educating Native American Physicians

We are dedicated to encouraging and supporting young Native Americans to enter medicine and health careers. The Center of American Indian and Minority Health, based in Duluth, develops programs directed at high school students, undergraduates and medical students from Native American communities.

With campuses in the Twin Cities and Duluth, the University of Minnesota Medical School ranks second in the nation in the number of Native American medical graduates—123 over the last 30 years, or more than 7 percent of the American Indian doctors practicing in the United States. Half of those physicians serve American Indian communities. In 2006, the largest number of Native Americans in the school’s history started medical school – nine in Duluth and six in Minneapolis.  

Advancing New Discoveries

Our faculty is involved in various cutting edge research initiatives and our Duluth Medical Research Institute helps leverage existing and future resources to create collaborative relationships among researchers from multiple biomedical and clinical disciplines at the university and at community health agencies. Our scientists are actively investigating important medical questions related to cancer, brain and addictive disorders. We have active doctoral and master’s degree programs.

Students

Following an intensive admissions process designed to select students who meet our mission, 58 new students began medical school in Duluth in fall 2007. They were chosen from a pool of 1,330 applicants, 466 of whom are Minnesota residents. The majority of these matriculants grew up in communities smaller than 20,000.

By 2030, physicians who attend public medical schools could spend up to 40 percent of their take-home pay on school debt. Tuition and fees for an individual student next year will be more than $30,000. Therefore, scholarships are critically important to attracting and retaining medical students.

Alumni

Our charter class of 23 students graduated in 1976. More than 1,400 M.D. alumni began their medical education here in Duluth. Nearly three-fourths of them practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and nearly half practice in rural or small communities (population of 30,000 or less), as compared to 4 percent of doctors nationwide.

Faculty and Staff

Our faculty includes more than 40 professors, many of whom also serve as the school’s associate deans and administrative department heads. In 2007, we have approximately 95 total full-time and part-time faculty and support staff (administrative and research), although that number does fluctuate. Nearly 300 Minnesota physicians augment core staff as part-time community faculty or preceptors, that is, faculty in local hospitals and clinics who work with medical students.