by Emily Gersema - Mar. 4, 2012 09:29 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

The University of Arizona is asking state lawmakers for $15 million in state funds for its downtown Phoenix medical campus next school year so it can boost enrollment and hire more professors.

Rep. Ted Vogt, R-Tucson, is sponsoring House Bill 2551, which, if approved, would increase the UA Phoenix campus' budget by an estimated $540,000 from the $14.36 million in state funding approved by legislators for this school year.

"This is a strategic investment," Vogt said. "It's not just an investment in a university or education, it's an investment that will produce more doctors who will go out and serve the state of Arizona."

Vogt and other proponents of the campus say its flagship program, the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix, is producing new doctors who can provide health care in underserved areas, such as poor and rural communities. Vogt said the campus is helping to address issues with shortages of medical professionals.

The campus graduated its first class of medical doctors -- 24 students -- last spring and currently has 192 students.

Also growing the student population downtown is the addition of Northern Arizona University, which next year will draw some 50 students to the UA campus with its physical-therapy and physicians-assistant programs.

NAU is moving into the new Health Sciences Education Building at Seventh and Van Buren streets.

Both universities have said they are attempting to keep within the state most of the graduates from their Phoenix campus programs. UA officials note that about half of last year's graduating class of doctors from the campus are in residency in Arizona hospitals.

Vogt anticipates that some members of the Arizona Legislature who consider themselves fiscal conservatives will resist his proposal, but he believes others will see the school's continued financing as critical for boosting the local and state economy.

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Bill would raise UA medical campus funding