To increase number of doctors in Valley, new medical school starts up in Clovis

A medical school broke ground in northeast Clovis on Wednesday, becoming the latest privately funded health care project spearheaded by the Assemi family.

Known for success in real estate and agriculture, the Assemi family has made improving the Valley’s health-care system one of their philanthropic missions.

The family, led by Farid Assemi, is behind the California Health Sciences University’s College of Pharmacy that will be graduating its first class on May 18.

Wednesday’s groundbreaking celebrated the CHSU’s newest project: the College of Osteopathic Medicine. The college will be built on about 70 acres at the Clovis Research and Technology Park on Alluvial Avenue, just west of Temperance Avenue.

Florence Dunn, CHSU’s president, told a crowd of about 200 people that the college is moving ahead in the accreditation process and will soon begin construction of a 90,000-square-foot building. The medical training facility will be three floors and include classrooms, osteopathic skills lab, study space, faculty offices and student lounge.

There will also be a professional kitchen for teaching students about nutrition and healthy eating.

If everything falls into place, the building will be finished by 2019 and the college will be able to enroll students for the fall semester of 2020.

Osteopathic medicine focuses on the joints, muscles, and spine, and medical treatments deal with the body’s nervous, circulatory, and lymphatic systems.

Assemi hopes that over the next several decades the university will be be able to produce not just pharmacists and doctors, but also physical therapists, physician’s assistants and other medical specialties.

He admits that when he first approached his family in 2011 with the idea of building a medical school, he was afraid they were going to reject it.

“But to their credit, they have moved forward with it,” Assemi said. “And while our (real estate) competitors were out buying more property, we were investing in building a medical school.”

Assemi and Dunn said that one of the drivers in launching the college was to provide the San Joaquin Valley with more doctors. The region is woefully undeserved, with one of the lowest rates of primary care physicians in the state.

Former Fresno State president John Welty, now board chair for CHSU, said the school is important not only because it will help fill the need for health care, but it also provides local students with an opportunity for a medical career.

“When they say they want to be a doctor or a pharmacist, there will now be a place where they can go and a place where they can find work,” Welty said.

Clovis Mayor Bob Whalen welcomed the proposed medical school, saying it is a perfect fit for the city and adds to its reputation of providing high level educational opportunities.

“We are very excited about them coming here and what this represents for the future of Clovis and the Valley,” Whalen said.

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 3:22 PM with the headline "To increase number of doctors in Valley, new medical school starts up in Clovis."