ASU’s new School of Medicine receives preliminary accreditation and new name

John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering can now begin to recruit first class of students for 2026

A little more than two years ago, driven by our commitment to the communities we serve and a request from the Arizona Board of Regents to help address a shortage of medical professionals, Arizona State University announced plans to open a new medical and engineering school as part of a learning health system called ASU Health.

Since then, ASU has hired some of the best people in the country and has moved at light speed to bring this vision to reality.

Today, we bring you news of two important developments. First, the medical school has achieved preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Second, a nine-figure gift, the second largest in university history, will result in a new name for the school: the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering.

Accreditation means that we can begin actively recruiting students for our opening class for fall 2026, and Dr. John Shufeldt’s generous contribution is a powerful investment that enables us to put more ideas into action.

Dr. Shufeldt is already part of the ASU community, and he is the embodiment of the kind of student we want the new school to produce. He holds an MD, JD and MBA and is board certified in emergency medicine. Dr. Shufeldt is an emergency room physician and an entrepreneur who founded NextCare in 1993, MeMD in 2010 and Tribal Health in 2015.

Dr. Holly Lisanby is in place as the founding dean for the Shufeldt School, and Jyoti Pathak, hired this summer, is the dean for the new School of Technology for Public Health. They have joined current deans Michael Yudell of the College of Health Solutions and Judith Karshmer of the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation to form the leadership team for the initial educational components of ASU Health. A new era in health care education is dawning, and ASU is leading the way.

Today’s announcements are exciting and make all of us proud to be part of the university, but there is much more to be done. We ask you to please spread the word about the school. And if you know someone who is interested in going to a medical and engineering school at the most innovative university in the country, please send him or her our way.

You can meet Dr. Shufeldt and learn more about these exciting developments here.