Jeff Murray

jmurray@stargazette.com | @SGJeffMurray

A planned medical school in Elmira will not only help boost the level of health care in the area but will also be an economic boon, according to the director of graduate medical education at Arnot Health.

Dr. Richard Terry was among four guest speakers at Friday's 23rd annual Economic Forum, sponsored by the Chemung County Chamber of Commerce, Elmira Savings Bank and Southern Tier Economic Growth.

Terry is also the assistant dean of regional clinical education for the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, or LECOM. Local officials announced in December that the one-time $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative will include a $1.5 million grant for LECOM to open a medical school on the Elmira College campus.

Arnot Health already has an education program for third- and fourth-year medical school students and for medical residents, but the LECOM program will include first- and second-year students.

The project still needs to go through an approval process with the state, but should be operating in 2017, Terry said.

Once it is, the benefits will be numerous, he added.

"The plan is to put a medical campus at Elmira College with 80 students per year. By 2017, they will do two years at Elmira College, then half will train at Arnot and the rest will go to Binghamton," Terry said. "Elmira is the beneficiary of this. Studies have shown that each dollar spent on medical education results in a $3 benefit to the community. We're looking at creating additional faculty jobs, some 15 to 17 aggregate jobs and many part-time as well. The economic impact will be significant.

"We'll have up to 320 students at full capacity," he said. "Our hope is those students will live in this community and work in this community."

Other speakers at Friday's economic forum, which was held at the Elmira Holiday Inn Riverview, included Steven Manning, chief executive officer of Southern Tier Network, Michael Oshetski, founder and CEO of Micatu, and Michael Jagielski, Micatu chief operating officer.

Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli moderated the program, and had words of both promise and caution for the civic and business leaders in attendance.

"We've been given a great opportunity to do some things with our $500 million share of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative," Santulli said. "Can we do it? We've got to take it and run with it. We've been given the tools to do it. You need to expect more from me and the mayor and the city manager. Are we going to take the money and run with it or squabble over things? The pressure is on us to take the money and run and government needs to lead the way."

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