Va. system to partner on med school

Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, Va., and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., announced plans to build the state’s fifth medical school. The school would admit 40 students annually to a five-year joint medical education and master’s degree research program. Seven-hospital Carilion unveiled plans in June to expand its research efforts as part of a bid to convert to a physician-led clinic from a health system. Construction of the school, to be located in downtown Roanoke, is expected to begin in early 2008, and the school will open by 2010, officials said. The school’s budget and financing haven’t been finalized, they said. The Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, which trains primary-care doctors, opened in nearby Blacksburg in 2003. -- by Melanie Evans