School of Medicine News

Published in the ALUMNI JOURNAL spring 2023

Loma Linda University School of Medicine (LLUSM) students now have the opportunity to spend their clinical years at AdventHealth Orlando thanks to a new regional campus partnership. Through the agreement, medical students can select the Florida-based healthcare system for their required clinical rotations during their third and fourth years of education leading to a doctor of medicine (MD) degree.

The LLUSM–AdventHealth Orlando Campus offers medical students the opportunity to train in Central Florida to diversify their clinical education across a variety of patient care settings and environments.

“A cohort of students are learning in a setting that shares similar visions and common values with an emphasis on whole-person care just like Loma Linda University Health,” said Tamara L.
Thomas ’87, dean of LLUSM.

Medical students training at AdventHealth Orlando will follow the core curriculum of LLUSM and will complete their medical education under the supervision of AdventHealth Orlando faculty.

“We have a longstanding relationship with AdventHealth, and the Orlando location is an additional rotational site for students to spend their clinical years learning from a diverse group of providers and researchers, including many of whom are alumni,” said Elaine Angela Hart ’00, assistant dean of regional campuses at LLUSM.

Regional campuses are becoming more common as medical schools and healthcare organizations recognize the partnership benefits of training the next generation of physicians. The campuses boost enrollment and help increase the workforce in that region.

Vincent P. Hsu ’95, executive medical director, infection prevention and epidemiology, AdventHealth and associate professor of the LLUSM AdventHealth Orlando campus added, “As one of Loma Linda’s many medical school alumni practicing with AdventHealth, I am thrilled we are expanding our longstanding partnership with the establishment of the LLUSM–AdventHealth Orlando regional campus. Students will learn from and practice alongside some of the world’s top physicians and across a wide range of specialties. All of us look forward to recruiting and welcoming the best and brightest as they join us to build on their medical school knowledge.”

“There is strong interest and enthusiasm to learn and participate in medical care in Central Florida,” said George Everett, MD, assistant dean of LLUSM–AdventHealth Orlando Campus. “Students will learn in a large hospital system that offers advanced medical research and exceptional primary and specialty care to a diverse patient population.”

AdventHealth Orlando is a major tertiary and quaternary referral hospital for much of the Southeast, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The facility has several residency and fellowship programs already in place, with additional programs set to launch soon. Residencies in
OB-GYN and orthopedics will admit their first classes in July.

Students applying or accepted to LLUSM who are interested in spending their third and fourth year at a regional campus such as AdventHealth Orlando may indicate their preference in their secondary application.