Cristy Hoge, left, UA doctoral candidate in pharmacy, takes the blood pressure of fellow student Zhinus Bahraini at the new campus. "By linking arms with ASU, NAU and TGen, we are entering into an arrangement unique in America and unique in its potential to redefine medical education in this country," said UA President Robert Shelton.

Chris Richards / Arizona Daily Star

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PHOENIX — The University of Arizona opened its new medical-school campus in Phoenix Tuesday, unveiling the stunning restoration of three century-old buildings and an unprecedented collaboration with rival Arizona State University.

The three original Phoenix Union High School buildings, built in 1911 downtown at Van Buren and Seventh streets, form the core of the College of Medicine-Phoenix, which will welcome its first class of 24 students next summer.

The adaptive renovation of the once-vacant Phoenix Union buildings is the start of an entire biomedical campus in Phoenix. It is expected eventually to include 600 UA medical students, a UA pharmacy expansion with 400 students, ASU's nursing school and biomedical informatics program, health programs allied with Northern Arizona University, additional research facilities, and collaborations with the Translational Genomics Institute (TGen) and others.

"By linking arms with ASU, NAU and TGen, we are entering into an arrangement unique in America and unique in its potential to redefine medical education in this country," said UA President Robert Shelton. "We are creating a new whole that will be far greater than the sum of its parts."

Shelton said the last time the UA was involved in an endeavor as risky and complex was in the 1960s when the College of Medicine was established. He noted founding Dean Merlin DuVal in the audience, saying DuVal met with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon the day after the mayor was elected and urged him to make the establishment of a medical school the top priority to reviving the city's core.

"This is a great day for the U of A and a new day for ASU," said Regent Gary Stuart. "This expanded campus is about the adventure we've been on for 24 months and about change and about optimism."

The lore of the new medical school starts with a fishing trip in the summer of 2004 taken by Stuart; then-UA President Peter Likins; ASU President Michael Crow; and James E. Rogers, a UA alumnus and donor who is now chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

The four left behind their advisers and the historical notions of rivalry to plan a way to bring a medical school to Phoenix.

Likins and Crow faced down skepticism from both universities and the general public in what Stuart called a bold challenge to the status quo, agreeing the UA would locate an expansion to its medical school in Phoenix, in collaboration with ASU. On Aug. 4, 2004, a memorandum of agreement started the process.

Dr. Keith Joiner, dean of the College of Medicine, said the new campus will strengthen the college as a whole, assuaging early worries that funding for the Phoenix program would come at the expense of Tucson.

"It wouldn't make sense to pull resources from one place for another," Joiner said. "It's not a Tucson vs. Phoenix issue. It's an opportunity to expand and better meet our mission."

Joiner said the overall stature of the medical school will grow and the college's ranking is expected to improve as the new Phoenix program attracts more faculty members.

The UA medical school is ranked 55th in research funding from the National Institutes of Health but is third among schools with fewer than 600 faculty members. In addition to the Phoenix expansion, the college is in the process of doubling the faculty in Tucson over about seven years

"These rankings are totally size-dependent," Joiner said.

The Phoenix program has drawn 19 faculty members, eight of them ASU professors who were given joint appointments with the UA. Joiner said the newly hired faculty members bring energy and vision to the college.

"They all had to be somewhat adventurous. By their very nature they had to have a pioneering spirit," Joiner said.

Dr. Stuart Flynn, a surgical pathologist lured to the UA's Phoenix medical school after 20 years at Yale University, said he was drawn by the chance to be innovative and forward-looking at the new campus.

"A flat-out appealing component of it was building the first two years of curriculum without any barriers in place," he said. "This is the best. We have Tucson to anchor us and we have the opportunity to be creative in our part of the curriculum."

Joiner said colleagues around the country are watching the development of the UA's medical school expansion closely.

"Every meeting I go to, I'm bombarded with questions by deans and health-sciences vice presidents and presidents," he said. "We are considered a model, and we're out on the front edge. People are envious, but we're under the microscope so we'd better get this right."

Likins said the medical school's opening is just the beginning. Its scale, he said, is too small to meet the state's needs, and its continued expansion will take a state commitment in money and political will, while Crow said the medical school is the next step in advancing the quality of life for all Arizonans.

"We are moving forward in a way the Legislature and the people of Arizona can be proud of," he said. "This medical school campus will be flexible, adaptable, high-speed, engaged, community-learning-driven."