On Oct. 9, Arizona State University (ASU) announced that it had finalized an agreement with HonorHealth to be the primary clinical affiliate for the university’s School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering. This agreement represents a significant step forward in the development of ASU Health, which seeks to create a new medical program that fuses medicine and engineering. This effort ties into the Arizona Board of Regents’ (ABOR) AZ Healthy Tomorrow initiative, which challenges the state’s universities to increase Arizona health education and fuel Arizona’s healthcare workforce.  

“Last year, the [Arizona] Board of Regents gave Arizona State University a license and the authority to advance what we call ASU Health with Sherine Gabriel as our [executive vice president],” says Michael Crow, president of ASU, during a press conference. “In that model, we said we would launch a series of new initiatives focused on enhancing Arizona’s health outcomes for everyone, and that means the building of new schools, the expansion of research activities by a factor of five and increasing nursing production by a factor of three. But central to this evolutionary step for both ASU and HonorHealth is to come together to launch a new School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering.” 

It’s essential that medical schools are grounded in clinical practice, and part of the accreditation process through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accrediting body for medical education programs in the U.S. One of the requirements is to find a clinical affiliate.  

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“In our discussions with HonorHealth, we found the perfect partner — one that already has a significant impact here in the Valley with an impressive growth trajectory, research performance and fantastic facilities,” Crow continues. “Both [ASU and HonorHealth] maintain our other relationships, but this partnership with HonorHealth is unique and focused. It takes a while to get accreditation, but the relationship begins with this announcement.”  

This affiliation will further ASU’s graduate medical education (GME) programs and bring additional benefits for undergraduate medical education. In addition, it ensures the availability of HonorHealth inpatient hospitals and ambulatory facilities to ensure robust clinical experiences throughout Phoenix, Scottsdale and surrounding communities.  

A unique aspect of the new medical school at ASU is its emphasis on engineering.  

“Our new medical school is going to be called the School of Medicine and Advance Medical Engineering, and all graduates will earn both an MD and a master’s degree in engineering,” explains Sherine Gabriel, executive vice president of ASU Health. “The reasoning for this is because engineers are all about solving problems, and we want to instill that solutions-based approach into the next generation of physicians. Technology and AI is poised to upend everything we know in healthcare, and we’re leaning heavily into that at ASU so graduates are equipped with a different set of skills than I had when I finished medical school.”  

ASU Health headquarters will be built in Downtown Phoenix, but exact details on these facilities are still under consideration. Subject to required regulatory approvals, ASU’s School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering expects to admit its first class of approximately 35 students in the 2026–27 academic year.  

Northern Arizona University health education

Not long after ASU announced the coming of ASU Health, Northern Arizona University announced its own College of Medicine. Julie Baldwin, NARBHA vice president for NAU Health, explains that the new college is designed to address a specific area of acute need in Arizona: the low numbers of primary care physicians who are practicing in rural, tribal and other underserved communities in the state. 

“One of the ways in which we will meet our vision for the College of Medicine and educate physicians specializing in primary care is by having a very focused and innovative model,” she continues. “Rather than a large research infrastructure, we will focus instead on partnerships and practice. This will help reduce operating costs and maintain our focus on the core goal in educating primary care physicians.” 

Partnerships are key to providing this type of education, and Baldwin notes that the university will work with healthcare systems, providers and communities in Arizona.  

“Already, our team has been working with a range of partners in our region, throughout the state and across the country to inform our partnership-based approach and establish the networks that will be essential for the College of Medicine’s success,” she says.  

The medical program is still in the planning phase, meaning it will be a few years until the first group of students will begin coursework. The campus will be located in Flagstaff and will have strong links to existing spaces at NAU where labs, classroom and other resources can benefit the College of Medicine students, but specifics about the design are still under review.

University of Arizona  

The University of Arizona’s (U of A) College of Medicine was established in 1967, meaning for decades it was the only state university in Arizona producing physicians. As part of ABOR’s AZ Healthy Tomorrow initiative, U of A plans to increase the number of medical students in its programs by 2030 and expand its relationship with Banner Health to address healthcare needs.  

“Currently, we are turning away thousands of applicants a year to our medical school because we are maxed out in terms of faculty, infrastructure and space, simulation and lab areas,” says former U of A President Robert Robbins in a video on ABOR’s website. “Our goal is to double the student population in both the College of Medicine in Tucson and the College of Medicine in Phoenix to start putting more doctors into the workforce pipeline faster.” 

But Arizona’s need for more healthcare professionals go beyond just physicians, which is why U of A opened its College of Health Sciences in 2023. 

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“The college is natural evolution from the university’s focus on health-related workforce solutions,” explains Kevin Lohenry, interim dean of U of A’s College of Health Sciences. “The white coat [of a doctor] is a great image for a healthcare team. But there are many different members of that team that support patient care. For example, physical therapists have a significant role to play in terms of our quality of life and recovery from injuries. If you look at the data in Arizona, 93% of physical therapists are working in our urban centers.” 

Physician assistants (PAs) are also critical to providing care to patients, which is why the college built a Master of Physician Assistant Practice Program. Lohenry adds that thanks to a recent change in regulatory language, PAs can now practice with a degree of autonomy after completing 8,000 hours of clinical experience.  

“There aren’t enough primary care providers in Arizona, so PAs can now play a role in that process,” he continues. “These two new programs will expand access to care outside of the urban centers.”  

In terms of new facilities, the College of Health Sciences is located in U of A’s Health Sciences Innovation Building (HSIB), and Lohenry says there aren’t plans to build a new structure currently.  

“We did get a renovated space [in the HSIB] for the new physical therapy and PA programs, which is wonderful,” he concludes. “That’s due to be finished by next June so that physical therapy students who are scheduled to start in August 2026 will be able to utilize this new space.”