Week of March 18, 2010
Columbia University-Mt. Sinai hospital link-up isn't yet a model for local universities By Scott E. Pacheco While Miami Beach's Mount Sinai hospital is benefiting from a relationship with New York's Columbia University, Miami's two prominent medical schools say a cross-country connection doesn't exist, yet. Columbia and Mount Sinai, which announced their partnership in January, had been laying the groundwork for about a year prior. For Mount Sinai, the benefits are Ivy League credentials and the draw of a top institution in a major metropolitan city, which helps Mount Sinai improve the quality of recruits who will choose South Florida. For Florida International University's College of Medicine, such a partnership appears to be still a ways off, said Dr. John Rock, founding dean. "It's a young medical school," he said. "It's something we might consider in the future. We are focused on completing the accreditation process and forming our school." Florida International does have agreements with several local hospitals, including Mercy and Mount Sinai, which serve as teaching sites. "Usually university medical institutions will have relationships in a variety of ways — joint teaching programs — those kinds of partnerships could and will be developed as the medical school grows and develops," Dr. Rock said. A spokesperson for the University of Miami said a long-distance agreement doesn't exist at the more-established Miller School of Medicine and that the school "doesn't have anything working in this area." Other benefits cited by Mount Sinai include: South Floridians will get coordinated access to physicians and surgeons at Columbia University Medical Center, innovative research protocols and treatment options are available to patients; knowledge, technology and research will be shared; and for patients, the bridge between Mount Sinai and Columbia University will facilitate a positive experience in moving back and forth between institutions. |
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