Steve Marcus

Former U. S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) speaks about the need for Nevada residency programs during an editorial board meeting at the Las Vegas Sun offices Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Berkley is the new CEO and senior provost of the Touro College and University system in Nevada andCalifornia.

By Paul Takahashi (contact)

Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 | midnight

Former Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley told the Las Vegas Sun editorial board on Thursday that she hasn't taken a position on the UNLV medical school.

The UNLV alumna who recently became CEO and senior provost of Touro University Nevada said she wants to see her alma mater grow and succeed and have a national reputation.

However, Berkley acknowledged the high costs of starting and maintaining a medical school.

Health care consultant Tripp Umbach estimates that constructing an UNLV medical school could cost $80 million. Once finished, however, the UNLV medical school could have an annual economic impact of around $1.2 billion, according to the consultants.

Instead of pouring millions of dollars into creating a new medical school, Berkley said Nevada should consider ways to create more hospital and health clinic residencies for current medical students. Research shows that more than two-thirds of medical school graduates stay in the state where they complete their residencies.

It would seem to me at this moment in time the best expenditure of our state tax dollars if we want to improve the medical system is to create more residency programs, Berkley said. It doesnt do us any good to graduate more medical students if we are educating them to go to other states.

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Berkley says Nevada should be focused on creating more residency programs for medical students