Benedictine to play host to medical school

Sep. 14—The proposed founding of a new institution on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, will build a medical school for the training of osteopathic doctors from the ground up.

Organizers led by Dr. George Mychaskiw, who is to serve as president of the planned St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering-School of Osteopathic Medicine, are keen to emphasize that the school is "proposed" and is at least four years away from the start of classes. If all goes well, students will be able to enroll in a four-year program starting in August 2026. The St. Padre Pio Institute will be run separately from Benedictine, but it is in part envisioned as the next step for pre-medical biology graduates of BC.

"It's not actually part of Benedictine College but it will live on their campus sort of like how a Subway sandwich shop lives on the campus of a university, to be very simplistic about it," Mychaskiw said. "Although, there's a close working relationship between the two."

The first challenge is the raising of at least $30 million to $70 million, with the assistance of Benedictine. Mychaskiw said he envisions this goal being met by summer 2023 if the project is to be a success. Aside from reaching that goal, the school must be authorized to operate by the Kansas Board of Regents, and accreditors of medical training and post-doctoral residency must sign off, ahead of still more regulatory hurdles.

The impact of the college is hard to overstate in terms of regional economic development, said Justin Pregont, a former City of Atchison administrator who is now self-employed as a property developer and consultant. At a minimum, the project represents the addition of a 100,000-square-foot academic center, support facilities and housing for up to 300 students. High-paying jobs will be created for the institute and for Benedictine, which already has the most numerous workforce of any entity in Atchison and is a leading employer for Northeast Kansas.

"This is a positive thing for the region," Pregont said. "There's not a single downside, whether you're a regional medical provider seeking to hire more doctors or a patient seeking care. It's an absolutely massive win for economic development in this entire region, if this proposed school comes to pass."

All medical schools in the United States are held to the highest standards, Mychaskiw explained, and this is one reason why at least 3-4 fully qualified candidates apply for every medical school opening in the country. These greater opportunities for students are of particular appeal to Dr. Martha Carletti, associate professor, who advises Benedictine's premedical students. It is very common for BC students to become attached to Atchison, and they regret having to leave after graduation for a medical school elsewhere, Carletti said.

By the time her current freshmen are ready to start medical school in 2026, she said, they might not have to.

"One of our great strengths at Benedictine is our sense of community, and I think this expands our sense of community to the Atchison community as well," Carletti said.

Should the St. Padre Pio Institute come to fruition, it will exist as a faithful Catholic center of medical science, Mychaskiw said, striving to uphold church doctrines of respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life, in particular, opposition to abortion and euthanasia.

"This is an important enterprise, necessary to provide a different perspective on what I call the culture of death in the United States," Mychaskiw said. "Medical schools have separated themselves from faith and spirituality. It's time to come back to that."

Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem