On any given day in Reno, the impact of academic medicine is quietly unfolding.
It begins in a hospital room, where a patient receives care not just from a physician, but from a team that may include medical students, physician assistant students, residents and fellows — all learning, questioning and applying the latest evidence-based practices. It continues in a research laboratory, where discoveries are being translated into new diagnostics and therapeutics. And it extends into the community, where access to care is expanding in meaningful ways.
This collaboration defines an academic health system — a model used by some of the nation’s most respected institutions, including Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mayo Clinic and UCLA Health. And today, it’s taking shape in Northern Nevada through a landmark partnership between the (UNR Med) and .
Five years after formalizing a historic 50-year affiliation agreement to establish the first and only integrated academic health system in Nevada, the two organizations are not only celebrating a milestone — they are reshaping the future of healthcare in Nevada.
What is an academic health system?
At its core, an academic health system brings together a medical school and a healthcare provider to serve three interconnected missions: education, research and patient care.
Hospitals become classrooms. Physicians become teachers. Patients gain access to advanced treatments and clinical trials offering state-of-the-art technology and novel therapeutics.
Academic health systems are widely viewed as the gold standard for advancing medical knowledge and patient care. They have driven many of the past century’s most important breakthroughs, from improved treatments for heart disease, stroke and diabetes to innovations like organ transplants and minimally invasive surgery. At the same time, they play a vital role in educating and training the next generation of healthcare providers.
For Nevada — a state that has long faced physician shortages and limited access to specialty care — adopting this model is especially impactful. The state ranks 45th in physician coverage nationwide, with even lower standings in key areas: 48th for primary care physicians and 49th for general surgeons.
A partnership, decades in the making
While the affiliation agreement establishing Nevada’s first integrated academic health system was formalized in mid-2021, the partnership between UNR Med and Renown Health has been decades in the making.
Founded in 1969 as the University of Nevada School of Medical Sciences, UNR Med began as a two-year program, with its first class matriculating in 1971. At that time, students completed their basic science training in Nevada before transferring out of state to finish their medical degrees. In April 1977, the Nevada Legislature authorized the program’s expansion into a four-year, degree-granting medical school – marking a pivotal step in building a homegrown physician workforce.
That same year, the foundation of today’s partnership began to take place. By 1979, the University established its first residency program at Washoe Medical Center – now Renown Health – creating a direct link between medical education and clinical training in Northern Nevada.
Since then, UNR Med has trained more than 4,000 physicians, with greater than 30% remaining in Nevada to practice. Today, the school offers a wide range of programs – including Doctor of Medicine, Master of Physician Assistant Studies, Master of Speech Language Pathology, and graduate science degrees – continuing to strengthen and diversify the state’s healthcare workforce.
Renown Health traces its roots to 1862 and became the region’s first hospital in 1864, when Nevada achieved statehood. Over time, it has grown alongside the community into Northern Nevada’s largest locally governed, not-for-profit health system, serving a 100,000-square-mile region across Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra.
Today, Renown’s three-hospital system includes the region’s only Level II Trauma Center for both adults and children between Sacramento, Calif. and Salt Lake City, Utah, and the area’s only dedicated children’s hospital. It also provides highly specialized services not available elsewhere locally, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and kidney transplantation.
As Renown and UNR Med have grown, leaders recognized an opportunity to deepen their collaboration and more closely integrate medical education, research and patient care. Guided by the leadership of former UNR Med Dean Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., years of planning and partnership culminated in the landmark 50-year affiliation agreement in 2021. The agreement established a long-term strategic partnership focused on strengthening Nevada’s physician workforce, expanding clinical training opportunities and advancing healthcare across the region.
Together, UNR Med and Renown Health are advancing a shared vision of “A Healthy Nevada.”
Their formal affiliation created Nevada’s first integrated academic health system, connecting clinical care, physician training and research under a unified framework.
“The state ranked poorly in many measures of healthcare quality and access,” Schwenk said. “Nevada has faced challenges in physician workforce development, training opportunities, research capacity and access to care. The affiliation represented an entirely new approach to addressing those needs, bringing together the research and educational strengths of academic medicine with the clinical expertise and operations of a not-for-profit, community-based health system. Every part of the affiliation and its implementation was designed with the ultimate goal of improving the health of Nevadans.”
The partnership was further strengthened in 2022 with the appointment of Paul J. Hauptman, M.D., as dean of UNR Med and his dual role as chief academic officer at Renown Health, and Brian Erling, M.D., MBA, as president and CEO of Renown Health.
“Five years into this partnership, we are seeing the power of what happens when education, research and patient care come together with a shared purpose,” Erling said. “This collaboration is helping us train and retain the next generation of health care providers, expand access to advanced care and bring innovation from the laboratory to the bedside. Most importantly, it is creating new opportunities to improve the health of Nevadans for generations to come. Together with UNR Med, we are building more than an academic health system — we are building a healthier future for our state.”
Â鶹´«Ã½AV President Brian Sandoval, J.D., serves as a voting member on the Renown Health Board and works closely with Erling, ensuring strong alignment in advancing the organizations’ shared mission.
“The momentum we have created through this partnership is remarkable,” Hauptman said. “Our integrated academic health system is expanding opportunities for learners, attracting talented faculty and clinicians, and creating new pathways to improve health outcomes for Nevadans statewide.”
Transforming care, education and access
Five years into the partnership, the impact is measurable — and growing.
Training the next generation
Renown Health now serves as UNR Med’s primary teaching hospital, supporting a growing portfolio of . These graduate medical education programs train physicians after medical school in clinical practice and specialized care.
Residency programs:
- Family and Community Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Obstetrics and Gynecology (First cohort to begin in 2027)
Fellowship programs:
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Geriatric Medicine
- Hospice and Palliative Medicine
- Sports Medicine
- Wilderness Medicine
- Pulmonary and Critical Care (First cohort to begin in 2027)
In addition to the existing graduate medical education programs, UNR Med is in the development phase of a Surgery Residency program based at Renown.
Learners also gain experience at the Sierra Nevada VA Health Care System, providing exposure to a diverse range of patient populations and care settings.
Medical students and physician assistant students gain hands-on education across Renown’s expansive clinical network of more than 700 providers and 60 care sites, including 20 primary care locations, 13 urgent care centers and 29 specialty clinics. Renown Medical Group providers see more than 200,000 patients annually, offering exposure to a wide range of real-world cases.
“One of the most meaningful moments from my clinical training was when a patient was surprised to learn I was still a medical student,” said Maddi Nilson, a fourth-year medical student at UNR Med. “It made me realize how much I had grown during my rotations at Renown. That growth came from a team that challenged me to think independently while providing the support I needed to learn safely. One of the greatest gifts an academic health system can give its students is the confidence to grow because someone believed in them before they fully believed in themselves.”
Expanding graduate medical education is one of the most powerful tools for strengthening the healthcare workforce. Physicians are more likely to practice in the communities where they train, making graduate medical education a powerful driver of healthcare access. More than 60% of residents and fellows who train in Nevada remain in the state to practice, and that retention rate increases to almost 80% among those who complete both medical school and residency training in Nevada.
Expanding clinical care
With the integration of UNR Med’s clinical practice into Renown Medical Group, patients now benefit from a more coordinated and comprehensive system of care.
The affiliation enables the development of new and expanded clinical services in areas such as oncology, cardiology, neurosciences, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, speech pathology and audiology, and other advanced care services.
Clinical expansion brings specialized care closer to home, reducing the need for Reno’s growing patient population to travel out of state. As the region’s only provider of advanced treatments, Renown plays a central role in elevating the level of care available locally and is consistently recognized with “Best Hospital” designations from U.S. News & World Report in recent years.
The growing network also means shorter wait times and improved access — a critical need in a rapidly growing region.
Advancing research and innovation
As part of a Carnegie® R1 research university, UNR Med faculty are recognized as being in the top 3% of universities nationwide, indicating very high research activity. Faculty research is actively bolstering an expansion of in areas such as muscular dystrophy, infectious disease diagnostics, cardiac arrythmias and cancer, and opening doors for expanded clinical research and clinical trials.
“The three-part mission of academic healthcare — excellent patient care, research, trainee education — has been part of my identity since medical school,” said Eric Kim, M.D., associate dean of clinical research at UNR Med and chief of urology at Renown Health. “As an NIH-funded surgeon scientist, I believe strongly that providing the best care to patients and teaching trainees (students and residents) happens as an extension of research participation. It is a commitment to strive to do better for patients who will benefit today and in the future.”
Strengthening community health
The affiliation goes beyond hospitals and classrooms — it is strengthening access to care across both urban and rural communities in the region.
Both institutions maintain a shared commitment to rural health. UNR Med operates student outreach clinics in Yerington, Lovelock and Silver Springs, while Renown provides care through its clinics in Carson City, Fallon, Fernley and Silver Springs. Together, they are creating a more connected care network for patients.
Nearly 1 in 3 doctors in Washoe County trained at UNR Med, highlighting the school’s long-standing influence — now amplified through its partnership with Renown. The alignment also strengthens workforce retention, as Renown actively hires UNR Med residents and physician assistant graduates, helping to retain talent in the region.
The academic health system model offers a sustainable solution: train more providers locally, expand access to advanced care, and connect research-driven innovation directly to patients — ensuring that high-quality care is not only available, but accessible for all communities across the region.
'A Healthier Nevada,' built together
As UNR Med and Renown Health look toward the future, the focus remains on growth, innovation and community impact.
Plans include:
- Continued expansion of residency and fellowship programs
- Recruitment of nationally recognized physicians and researchers
- Expansion of clinical trials and research programs
- Development and enhancement of new clinical services including, but not limited to, cancer care
What began as a collaboration has evolved into a fully integrated system — one that touches nearly every aspect of healthcare in Northern Nevada.
From the classroom to the clinic to the community, the partnership between UNR Med and Renown Health is helping redefine what is possible in local healthcare.
Five years in, the impact is clear: more providers, more access, more opportunity — and a stronger, healthier Nevada taking shape for generations to come.
