The University of Illinois board of trustees Thursday approved a new medical school for the Urbana-Champaign campus, a unique engineering-focused program that could enroll students as soon as fall 2017.

The idea of an engineering-based medical school has been championed for a year by campus Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who has called it a "game changer" and one that is necessary for the university to compete in fields such as biomedicine. The new school would be separate from the university's existing College of Medicine, which is overseen by the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.

The board's approval means the campus can begin steps to open the school, including entering into a contract with partner Carle Health System. With up to 50 students per class, the school will draw on the university's strengths in engineering and technology to graduate physician-scientists and engineers who may work in clinical practice but also would have the skills and inclination to develop new medical equipment and innovations.

"We have the capacity to be able to truly redesign medicine," Wise said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune this week. "We have such a strong College of Engineering that can inform the next generation of doctors and therefore inform the next generation of health care."

As proposed, the new school would not rely on state funding. It would be supported in part through a partnership with Carle. The health system has pledged $100 million over the first 10 years. Other revenue would come from tuition, donors, grants and contracts, patient fees and the commercialization of medical technology. Wise said the goal is to secure $135 million from donors in the first 10 years.

Wise has said that without a medical school, the state's flagship public campus is at risk of falling behind its peers, as it can't compete for certain grants or attract and retain researchers and scientists whose work relies on a medical school.

Trustees said little about the medical school before approving it at their meeting Thursday, but they voiced their support at a committee meeting a day earlier. "We are taking some risks, but I think they are mitigated risks," said trustee Ricardo Estrada. U. of I. President Robert Easter said he was initially "skeptical" of the financial feasibility of the plan but has come around.

Wise has lobbied trustees for a year, and she has been met with opposition from officials at the university's sister campus in Chicago. UIC officials had said that a second medical school is unnecessary but this week pledged to collaborate on medical education.

The U. of I. system's College of Medicine is the largest public medical school in the country, with about 1,350 students at four regional sites throughout the state. Some of the students are assigned to the Urbana-Champaign campus, including those getting a joint M.D./Ph.D. in the Medical Scholars Program, and that relationship will continue, Wise said. The board has asked for more details about the future of those students.

The board also asked for a progress update at its May meeting, including on the submission of a comprehensive business plan. The campus now plans to negotiate an agreement with Carle.

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U. of I. trustees approve new medical school