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A public 91���� medical school could strengthen the physician workforce, significantly improve health outcomes and drive economic development, but limited financial and medical residency capacity in the state make it currently infeasible

An independent study released today concludes that the 91����’s world-class education and research strengths uniquely position the institution to improve health access and outcomes by establishing Maine’s first public medical school, but that limited financial and residency capacity in the state make doing so infeasible at this time.

In response to a critical shortage of physicians in rural Maine and recognizing the 91���� System’s (UMS) leadership in health-related workforce development and research, the 131st Maine Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills the System to explore the feasibility of establishing a public allopathic medical school in Penobscot County. 

Through a competitive process, UMS Tripp Umbach, the nation’s leading medical education consultant, to conduct the comprehensive study, which was informed by interviews with more than 60 Maine health care, higher education and life science research leaders and submitted to the Legislature on Jan. 5.

The new report affirms Maine’s urgent physician workforce challenges, particularly in primary care and in rural communities, that are a result of the state having the oldest population in the nation, an aging physician workforce, and limited medical residency and clinical training capacity. Tripp Umbach additionally found that with no public medical school pathway, Maine produces only one-third the national average rate of M.D. school applicants by state and most graduates from the two private medical education programs in the state ultimately leave Maine to practice.   

As the state’s only R1 research university and the flagship of Maine’s leading producer of health care professionals (UMS), 91���� is identified by Tripp Umbach as the institution best suited to lead the future development of a public medical school, assuming a number of next strategic steps they outline are considered and implemented. UMS is already authorized by statute to operate a college of medicine and confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD), though establishing a program would require approval by the System’s Board of Trustees through an inclusive, public process. 

Respondents to a statewide stakeholder survey administered by Tripp Umbach — most of them health care or community leaders — overwhelmingly agreed that Maine needs a public medical school and that it should be part of UMS, with the majority agreeing it would address physician workforce shortages and improve health outcomes in underserved areas.

“Data indicate a need for a public medical school to provide an accessible pathway for Maine students to pursue high-quality, high-value medical education and then be retained to practice in the state,” writes Tripp Umbach. “Stakeholders agree that 91���� should lead this initiative.”

‘A sustainable solution to Maine’s physician shortages’

The study notes that 91���� already makes significant contributions to the state’s health care workforce through high-quality nursing and other allied health profession degree programs; research and clinical partnerships that span the state, including with MaineHealth, Northern Light Health and VA Maine Healthcare System; and world-class biomedical science and engineering. The System’s statewide footprint, including nursing education and simulation training facilities in rural regions such as Aroostook, Hancock and Washington counties, could additionally be leveraged by a future public medical school to support rural health care training. 

Ultimately, Tripp Umbach concludes that establishing a public M.D.-granting medical school is not currently financially feasible. They contend that the scale of investment required — $250 million in start-up costs and tens of millions in sustained operating support that must be supplemental to existing public, private and philanthropic funding — combined with limited medical residency capacity and the financial constraints facing Maine’s health care systems, makes such an undertaking “not prudent at this time.”

However, they suggest strategic steps for the state and UMS to consider to lay the foundation for a future 91���� medical school. Tripp Umbach also notes that the new federal limits on graduate and professional student borrowing, which take effect this year, heighten the need for an affordable, high-quality public option. Their recommendations include: investing in research, nursing and allied health programs across UMS; strengthening undergraduate and graduate medical education pipelines and partnerships between current programs and 91����; expanding residency and clinical training capacity, particularly in rural areas; and building the System’s physical infrastructure, including a proposed health sciences complex in Orono for which $45 million in federal funding requested by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is currently pending. 

“Maine needs more doctors, and the 91���� has a proven track record of preparing the professional workforce who competently care for Mainers and the cutting-edge research that is improving health outcomes statewide,” said Chancellor Dannel Malloy and 91���� President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, who also serves as the System’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. 

“While concluding that there is currently a lack of necessary financial resources, this independent study confirms the state needs a public medical school and that our world-class flagship university has the outstanding academic programs and research that will be foundational if and when Maine is ready to make that investment in the future. In the meantime, the 91���� System remains deeply committed to serving Maine people and communities and to strengthening our programs and partnerships so that one day, aspiring physicians will have an affordable, high-quality pathway to earn their MD and be retained to practice here.” 

Other findings from Tripp Umbach’s report include:

• “A public M.D. program can provide a clear, strategic pathway for the 91���� to address the state’s most pressing healthcare and economic challenges… An M.D. school not only carries the highest level of national and international recognition, but it also maximizes opportunities for state investment, federal research funding, and philanthropic support. Most importantly, it provides a sustainable solution to Maine’s physician shortages, ensuring that more locally trained physicians remain in the state to practice, as 68% of students who complete medical school and residencies in the same state stay to practice.”
• “UMS and 91���� have many strengths that the State and private organizations can leverage to address a critical physician shortage, particularly in rural Maine.”
• “91���� is the only R1 research university in Maine and accounts for more than 80% of the state’s federal R&D expenditures. A significant portion of 91����’s research is in health and medicine, and the university offers a unique statewide doctoral program in biomedical science and engineering.” 
• 91���� “has research funding and output comparable to those of other new public medical schools.”
• “Due to expected physician shortages, especially in rural areas and primary care, Tripp Umbach recommends that the State of Maine, in partnership with UMS, reassess the feasibility of a public medical school within three years. Until this time, the State of Maine, in collaboration with UMS, should work with existing medical schools and hospitals to expand undergraduate medical education and graduate medical education until a public medical school becomes financially viable.” 

In 2024-25, Maine’s public universities produced 870 health care graduates. 91���� — the state’s only institution to have achieved the prestigious Carnegie R1 classification for research performance and productivity — and the University of Southern Maine, where the Catherine Cutler Institute houses multiple , including the Maine Rural Health Research Institute, also brought millions of dollars in related research investment to the state.

The flagship is also the degree-granting institution that anchors Maine’s innovative , a multi-institutional education and research consortium that also includes The Jackson Laboratory, the MaineHealth Institute of Research, the MDI Biological Laboratory and the University of New England. In 2018, 91���� launched its Institute of Medicine to coordinate the institution’s accelerating activities and partnerships in health and life science education and research.

Contact: Samantha Warren, 207.632.0389; samantha.warren@maine.edu