A Valley Promise Fulfilled-

UC Merced Medical Education Building is the First of its Kind

A screen grab of a YouTube video produced by UC Merced touting the new Medical Education Building soon to be built on campus.

The young woman in the video from the UC Merced news release calls it a promise fulfilled.

“We built the future in the heart of California,” the voice begins on a ninety-second YouTube video produced by the University. “What once was a dream, an idea, a vision will become a reality.”

The woman, presumably a student who will one day attend classes in the soon-to-be-built new building, says the structure was built for the future. 

The sign promoting the new Medical Education Building soon to be built on the UC Merced campus. Photo: Steve Newvine

The construction project is the UC Merced Medical Education Building. Campus leaders and selected government officeholders participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking on May 14.

The building will house the University’s public health, psychology, and health sciences research organizations.

It is the brick-and-mortar, or more accurately, steel-and-glass, piece of the University’s effort to produce doctors who will serve the local community.

Construction will lead up to a grand opening of the new Medical Education Building in 2026. Photo: Steve Newvine

“Hard to overstate what a positive step forward this is not just for Merced but for the entire San Joaquin Valley,” said Mayor Matthew Serratto in a social media post.

At four stories tall and two hundred thousand square feet, the building will fit right in with the existing buildings that were part of the 2020 strategic plan from the previous decade. As mentioned in a column in this space from that time, the 2020 Plan effectively doubled the campus's footprint.

When it opened in 2005, UC Merced prioritized medical education. The Central Valley has been described as having a critical lack of health care professionals, so the University explored solutions to address the problem.

That solution is now known as SJV PRIME PLUS, a partnership with the University of California San Francisco and Fresno campuses. Those partners will bring their strength from educating future doctors to a new location ready to open new doors for students seeking a career path in health care.

It is a first-of-its-kind partnership. The partnership brings an institution such as UCSF, with expertise in medical education, to the valley.

The Medical Education Building is designed to fit in with the flow of other classroom buildings that were part of the 2020 project that opened a few years ago. Photo: Steve Newvine

“We know from the research literature that medical professionals are far more likely to establish practices in the places where they were educated and undertook their residencies,” UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said at the groundbreaking.

That takes us back to the young student in the video. At one point, we see her viewing the campus far off in a farm field. The narration makes it clear she is happy about what’s in store for students preparing for a career in medicine.

“We are building the future again,” she says. “A dream delivered.”

The construction project will be completed in 2026. So, this UC student may be among the first to walk through the doors of the Medical Education Building when it opens for the fall 2026 semester.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced

He will be speaking at the Merced-AARP monthly meeting at the Merced Senior Center on June 26 at 10:00 AM.  The group encourages anyone to attend.

His new book, Beaten Paths and Back Roads is available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or on line at https://www.lulu.com/shop/steve-newvine/beaten-paths-and-back-roads/paperback/product-emmv6r.html?q=beaten+paths+steve+newvine&page=1&pageSize=4