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UND medical school requests recurring SIMND funding, curricular support and a maternal mortality review committee
Summary
The UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences asked legislators for $2 million recurring for its statewide mobile simulation program (SIMND), an $8.1 million curricular funding increase tied to a curricular refresh, a $250,000 biennial maternal mortality review committee appropriation, and direction on unused hyperbaric chamber funding.
Marjorie Jenkins, dean of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, told the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division that the medical school is making several programmatic and operating requests tied to enrollment, accreditation and statewide clinical training.
Jenkins asked the committee to fund $2 million in recurring support for SIMND, the school's statewide simulation program that deploys high‑fidelity mobile training units to rural hospitals and emergency responders. She said SIMND has trained more than 30,000 health workers and that the program recently won a $1.3 million Economic Development Administration grant to buy new vans; the requested recurring funds would staff and sustain expanded outreach into smaller communities.
The medical school also flagged an $8.1 million increase driven by a curricular refresh required by its accreditor and by program changes that raised credit hours per medical student and added doctoral‑level programs in physical and occupational therapy. Jenkins described the additional dollars as tied to increased instruction and curricular delivery for roughly 300 medical students and more than 500 health‑sciences learners.
Jenkins asked for a $250,000 biennial appropriation to the state's maternal mortality review committee to support a social worker, data analysis and meeting costs; she said North Dakota is tracking national increases in maternal deaths and needs a formal review process to identify trends. On a separate clinical equipment issue, the medical school said it contracted for hyperbaric oxygen chambers and partnered with hospitals to site four of the units; one chamber remains unassigned because hospital contracts were not finalized. The school asked the legislature to allow return or reallocation of roughly $250,000 that was not spent on an additional chamber.
Namil Choi, the school's chief financial officer, provided clarifying figures on chamber procurement and on the SIMND vehicle purchases. Jenkins said the addition of simulation hospital capacity and colocating nursing and medical education is driving part of the capital case UND has made in separate testimony for a health professions addition to the medical school.
Why it matters: SIMND and the simulation hospital concept are presented as direct investments in rural emergency preparedness and clinical workforce readiness. The curricular funding request reflects accreditation‑driven changes and program expansion that the school says affect per‑student cost and operating budgets.
The committee asked Jenkins for more detail on staffing plans and the vehicles and asked UND to provide written budget lines for the curricular and SIMND asks.
