The Idaho State Board of Education approved a collaborative agreement for the University of Idaho to be one of several partners leasing Idaho State University’s anatomy and physiology laboratory. The partnership also involving University of Utah’s Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine to expand undergraduate medical education in the Treasure Valley is pending approval from state legislature.
This agreement is one of the recommendations provided by the “Train Here, Stay Here” undergraduate medical program plan, which aims to solve Idaho’s physician shortage, developed by the Undergraduate Medical Education Committee in 2025.
“This joint venture represents a thoughtful, fiscally responsible approach to MD undergraduate medical education in Idaho,” said UI President Scott Green in a March 5 press relase. “By leveraging existing public resources, we’re expanding opportunities for future physicians to train and serve in Idaho. We’re grateful for Idaho State University’s partnership in helping make expanded undergraduate medical training in Idaho a reality.”
To make use of the anatomy lab, UI plans to base medical students at the Water Center in Boise, which is currently used for research and outreach. These students would then commute to ISU’s Meridian Health Sciences Campus for the anatomy component of their education.
UI identifies anatomy as a core part of medical education, and this agreement would enable students to complete that training without costly facility investments. UI already has an anatomy lab in the WWAMI Medical Education Building on the Moscow campus, but this partnership would expand the university’s medical education program to better meet the state’s physician needs.
The 2025 legislative session passed House Bill 368, which called for 30 additional medical school seats over the next three years and created a task force that would study the medical education issue and make recommendations for the 2026 legislature.
Currently, Idaho is ranked no. 50 in physicians per capita and no. 44 in terms of total physicians in the state, according to Idaho Ed News, due to rapid population growth and high physician turnover. It is estimated that the state would need 1,500 doctors today to meet the national average.
Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].