History
In January 1980 a group of lay and professional leaders in southern Puerto Rico established the Ponce School of Medicine Foundation, a non-profit organization, for the purpose of providing continuity to the Medical Education Program (MD Program), originally developed by the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in 1977.
In July 1980, the Council of Higher Education of Puerto Rico (CHE-PR) authorized the Foundation to operate the Ponce School of Medicine. In 1981, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited the school to grant the MD degree. The new administration, governed by a Board of Trustees, successfully handled the change and challenge and the new free-standing School of Medicine graduated its first class of 23 students.
In 1983, recognizing the need to establish a research program, the School applied for funds under the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program (MBRS) and the Research Center in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program. The award of both grants permitted the faculty to undertake expanded research activities.
A Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (PhD Program) was also initiated in 1988, and in 1992 the Council of Higher Education of Puerto Rico (CHE-PR) accredited the PhD Program and authorized PSM to award a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Biomedical Sciences to those students who completed program.
A new campus for Ponce School of Medicine was inaugurated in January 1995. The new facilities included a research building, a library, classrooms, a teaching laboratory, and the Gross Anatomy building.
During 1999-2000 academic year, PSM began its Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program (PsyD Program). Graduates from the program are awarded a doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree in Clinical Psychology as authorized by CHE-PR. In August 2002, PSM matriculated 30 students on a CHE-PR authorized Master Program in Public Health (MPH). The program has a length of two consecutive academic years organized in six trimesters.
In April 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that Ponce School of Medicine was awarded a $19 million grant to establish Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers (RECs) serving Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. This investment was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It is expected that this investment helps grow the emerging health information technology (health IT) industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers (REC Grant Information).
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