UMass Chan Medical School signs deal to open Burlington campus

WORCESTER ― UMass Chan Medical School will expand into Burlington with a regional medical campus after signing an agreement with Lahey Hospital and Medical Center.

Having initially signed a non-binding agreement in August to explore establishing the campus, the two parties have officially agreed to the partnership with the signing and will now move onto review and approval of plans by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for medical schools in the United States and Canada.

"This partnership brings together two organizations with a shared mission to care for our communities," said Anne C. Larkin, associate professor of surgery and vice provost and senior associate dean for educational affairs, in a press release Tuesday. "Beginning in the new year, we will engage the UMass Chan and Lahey communities in developing our innovative curriculum around leadership, health system science and interprofessional education as we build this new regional medical school campus."

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education decision is expected to come around March and the expansion would move forward in summer 2024 with the matriculation of 25 students to the UMass Chan-Lahey campus.

The school also said it's "anticipated" that the collaboration will allow Lahey faculty to become members of the UMass Chan faculty over time.

Although the regional campus will have a special focus on leadership, health systems sciences and interprofessional education, medical students will follow the the core UMass Chan-Worcester campus curriculum.

This is not the first time UMass Chan has expanded into other regions. It established a campus in Springfield with Baystate Health in 2015.

The Springfield campus houses the Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health track, which focuses on population health, health care disparities and health issues specific to urban and rural communities.

UMass Chan and Lahey, the release said, are also seeking to form a new research collaboration that will create "a new institute for health care delivery and implementation science and quantitative science research hub, to advance innovation in digital medicine, population health, and health care delivery."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: UMass Chan Medical School reaches agreement to open Burlington campus