UMKC School of Pharmacy at MSU began this fall thanks to a partnership

Collaboration between Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City allowed for the creation of a program the two schools said they could not do alone.

The UMKC School of Pharmacy at MSU began this fall with 30 graduate students enrolled.

"The expansion of our program in the School of Pharmacy ... is a golden opportunity to provide high-quality pharmacy education and access to pharmacy education to those who may not be able to pack up and move to our sites in Columbia and Kansas City," Russell Melchert, UMKC School of Pharmacy dean and professor, said at the Wednesday celebration of the program's creation.

Melchert said by working with MSU's infrastructure in Springfield, UMKC was able to create a cost-effective local pharmacy program. The 15,000-square-foot classroom space at MSU's Brick City includes three video conference-equipped classrooms that support live streaming classes between the Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield sites.

This is the third site for UMKC's PharmD program, the practice-level degree for pharmacists. The Springfield site is modeled after a similar program started in 2005 at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Gov. Jay Nixon attended the grand opening celebration of the new program and praised the colleges for working together to help add graduates to Missouri's high-demand health care field.

He called the PharmD program a "prime example of a goal we've had for higher education from day one."

Nixon said, "The first class of 30 students now enrolled in this program are charting a solid path toward a bright future and rewarding careers that remain in very high-demand, especially in rural parts of our state."

The Missouri legislature approved an annual $2 million funding of the program.

State Sen. David Sater, who helped get funding of the program, thanked Nixon at the grand opening for his support. He said the appropriation of funds was a collaborative effort.

Sater, a graduate of MSU and the UMKC School of Pharmacy, said he was proud that Missouri legislators saw the importance of the program.

UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton said the UMKC School of Pharmacy admits 125 students out of more than 600 applicants. The new Springfield location will increase the number of applicants accepted by 25 percent.

The Springfield expansion will help address a shortage of pharmacists, especially in rural Missouri.

"Just think of the number of people who will no longer worry about access to the medicines they need. They will feel confident in the trained pharmacist who not only prepared their meds for them, but are on hand to talk about the proper use," he said. "The great thing about this is, everybody wins."

There was approximately $3 million in one-time costs for the program, said Melchert. The ongoing expenses will be covered by students' tuition, which is paid to UMKC, and the appropriations from the state.

Melchert said UMKC will eventually hire seven faculty members to be based full time in Springfield to help run the program, as well as additional faculty in Columbia and Kansas City, who will teach through video conferencing.

MSU Provost Frank Einhelling said the two schools have been working to create the program for two years.

He cited a proverb at the program grand opening that represented the journey of the schools: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

He said MSU started expanding its health care programs 20 years ago and this fits in with the school's mission to serve its community and offer a more comprehensive programs.

Robert Hopkins, a first-year School of Pharmacy student in Springfield, also spoke to the importance of the program.

He said, "The opportunity to be able to go to school here in Springfield was an absolute blessing, with a family and mortgage, moving away to go to school was not an option."

Medical program on hold

In June 2013, Nixon withheld $10 million for a similar University of Missouri program expansion in Springfield. It was part of $400 million in spending froze by Nixon for the Fiscal 2014 budget.

The program in Springfield, offered through the University of Missouri, would have started a medical program with eight students in 2015, 32 more in 2016 and an additional 32 students in 2017. That program is on hold, Nixon said Wednesday, and he could not say when the funding might be released.

"It's a good program, clearly, just like this one, adding to the medical capacity in these regions and the cooperative agreements between universities are very helpful in making that cost effective," he said. "Unfortunately, we don't have the money right now. The legislature sent me a budget that was not balanced. They missed it by hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars."

According to News-Leader archives, the Springfield medical program would allow students to spend their final two years observing doctors from CoxHealth and Mercy Hospital Springfield. The proposal was supported by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and both hospitals as a boost to the economy and a way to increase doctors in the area.

Nixon said the proposed medical program was more expensive than the newly created UMKC School of Pharmacy at Missouri State University.

"You have to make choices, and expanding another program in a time in which the legislature continues to want to limit the resources that are available, provides difficult and challenging choices," he said.