UND medical school seeks health‑professions addition, expansion of simulation and rural training

Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, vice president for health affairs and dean of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), told the House Appropriations — Education and Environment Division that rapid growth in the school’s programs and rural workforce needs are driving a request for a health‑professions addition and ongoing support for simulation and mobile training.

"It takes a long time to grow a doctor," Jenkins told the committee, describing the school’s four‑campus footprint, 300 medical students, roughly 180 residents and fellows and more than 1,350 volunteer clinical faculty across the state. She said the SMHS has increased medical students and residents substantially in recent years and that a larger, modern training facility is needed to sustain that growth and expand interprofessional education.

Jenkins said the medical school is seeking $55 million in state funding for a three‑story, roughly 95,000‑square‑foot addition that would bring the College of Nursing and allied health professions into closer proximity with medical education; UND has identified $40 million in local funds and philanthropic commitments to help reach a $95 million project cost. The plan would permit a simulation hospital and more team‑based training for physicians, nurses and allied health students, and she said the proposal includes a timeline for design, demolition and construction stretching through 2029–2030 if funded.

The dean also described Simulation in Motion (SIM) work that brings simulation training into rural communities. Jenkins said SIM has trained more than 30,000 learners and noted recent federal economic development funding totaling about $1.3 million awarded in December 2024. The SMHS asked the committee for annual operating support to staff smaller, mobile simulation units; Jenkins told lawmakers the school requested $1 million per year to staff new van‑based simulation outreach capacity.

Jenkins framed the medical school’s case around workforce statistics: she said about 79% of family medicine physicians practicing in North Dakota are SMHS alumni, and roughly half of all physicians in the state are graduates of UND’s programs. She also described targeted pipeline programs — including scholarship‑backed training that requires post‑graduation service obligations — and noted the school’s high ranking for graduates practicing rural and primary care.

Committee members asked Jenkins about specialty shortages (for example, obstetrics‑gynecology) and how many nursing students the school currently trains; Jenkins said she would follow up with program‑level numbers and noted the school is pursuing multiple strategies — including admissions pipelines, INMED and partnership work with tribal colleges — to increase in‑state matriculation and training.

Ending: Jenkins concluded by thanking the legislature for recent support and urging continued investment in the health professions facility and simulation staffing that she said will expand rural access to care and strengthen workforce capacity across North Dakota.