Legislators’ support of ODU, EVMS merger suggests proposed budget amendment will pass

Two Norfolk delegates said they are supportive of a proposal to merge Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University that is included in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget.

“I think it will allow us to continue to retain talent,” Del. Angelia Williams Graves said. “It will give us a better opportunity to attract the best and the brightest.”

Del. Rob Bloxom, R-Accomack, agrees with Graves, D-Norfolk, an ODU graduate, that the two institutions are a good match and combined will be positive for the Hampton Roads area.

“I’m not going to say it’s for survival but I think there’s some benefit to putting the two schools together,” he said.

EVMS is one of only three stand-alone medical schools in the country, but the support from the governor and legislators of both parties suggests a merger will happen by the 2024 deadline set in Youngkin’s proposed amendment. Supporters say such a merger is a win-win for both institutions.

However, state Sen. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, said there are several questions he wants answered before he supports a potential merger.

He wants to know if there could have been a similar merger offered between EVMS and Norfolk State University, and if so, why it was not offered. Additionally, Spruill wondered how a merger would impact programs EVMS has with NSU.

Alicia Monroe, chief integration officer at ODU, said, “A potential integration offers significant opportunities to expand and grow research, from attracting talented students and faculty to competing at a higher level for grant funding.”

Monroe added, “If we are better able to attract research funding, our combined faculty will be better positioned to truly address health disparities and build a sorely needed workforce pipeline for Hampton Roads and beyond.”

C. Donald Combs, vice president and dean of the School of Health Professions at EVMS and a member of the integration management office, said EVMS would benefit from being a part of a larger enterprise.

“The integration would lead to the most comprehensive educational center for the health professions in the commonwealth — with educational programs that address not only medicine, nursing, other clinical professions and the biomedical sciences, but also emerging disciplines such as precision medicine, bioinformatics and computational biology,” he said.

Combs said the merger is expected to lead to significant economic benefits in the region.

Sentara Healthcare is a proponent and has played a role in previous studies and work groups involved around a potential merger for several years. Emails obtained by The Virginian-Pilot in 2020 showed that EVMS leaders worried Sentara was trying to force the school to merge with ODU. Also that year, EVMS exited a study group with EVMS, ODU and Sentara one day before its report was released, and then later the board of visitors held a vote of no confidence in a consultant who was recommending that EVMS become part of ODU.

The following December, in 2021, EVMS and Sentara signed an agreement with ODU to “continue exploring the value of aligning or affiliating,” according to the memorandum of understanding. Earlier in 2021, ODU, EVMS and NSU announced an agreement to collaborate on a joint public health school.

In 2018, Sentara pledged to allocate $130 million to EVMS over the following five years to start new academic programs and bolster existing ones, as well as improve facilities and more, according to an announcement from Sentara at the time.

If Youngkin’s proposed budget is approved by state legislators, the commonwealth would allocate $10 million to assist with the merger and ODU, and EVMS would be required to prepare certain information by no later than Aug. 31. This information would be reviewed by Youngkin and chairs of the House appropriations and Senate finance and appropriations committees for approval, according to state documents.

The information would include five-year strategic and financial plans about initial operations, investments and capital requirements of the new institution; metrics for how the new institution will further public health in the region; funding and staffing plans; as well as a governance model, according to state documents.

Ian Munro, ian.munro@virginiamedia.com