Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Couple give $50M ‘gift of education’
The donation is the largest gift in Nova Southeastern University’s history.
Nova Southeastern University plans to expand its medical school into the Tampa Bay region, with the help of a $50 million donation that will also increase scholarships for students pursuing careers in health care.
The donation, from Tampa cardiologist Kiran Patel and his wife, pediatrician Pallavi Patel, is the largest gift in NSU’s history. Kiran Patel is also investing $150 million to build a new campus on the 27-acre site of the now closed Clearwater Christian College.
“We firmly believe that the best gift anybody can give to anyone is the gift of education. Once you educate a person, you transform their life, their family’s life, society and our country,” Kiran Patel said at a ceremony announcing the gift on Monday. “And health is very important in everybody’s life, because without health, you will suffer and never enjoy the fullest possibilities of life. This opportunity gives us the ability to achieve both goals.”
The Clearwater site will serve as the second location for NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine program. The program serves 230 new students each year on NSU’s main Davie campus, and plans are to add 150 new students at the Clearwater campus by the fall of 2019. NSU officials say 46 percent of their medical graduates end up staying in Florida to practice.
This is the latest in a rapid medical education expansion for NSU. In addition to its Tampa D.O. program, the university is adding a traditional M.D. program next year in Davie, which will enroll 100 medical students each year. And it will get a new teaching hospital on the Davie campus, which will replace Plantation General Hospital. The facility is opening in partnership with HCA Healthcare.
NSU already has a campus in Tampa that focuses on various health degrees, as well as education and business. These programs would move to the new campus, which is more three times as big at 325,000 square feet, NSU President George Hanbury said.
The Tampa expansion “will make NSU the premiere leader in healthcare education on both the east and west coasts of Florida,” Hanbury said.
The College of Osteopathic Medicine will be renamed in honor of Kiran Patel and the College of Health Care Sciences will honor Pallavi Patel.
Kiran Patel, who amassed his wealth by opening a chain of medical offices catering to patients on managed care, bought the old college site in December with plans to open his own medical school. He shared those plans with Hanbury, who he met with on a regular basis to discuss healthcare issues. Hanbury persuaded him to instead partner with NSU, which was looking to expand.
“I could have gone and tried to reinvent the wheel but I thought this partnership was a good one. And I will have an experienced team of academics with all the expertise that's required,” Kiran Patel said.
The $50 million gift will be used for some start-up costs and salaries for the Tampa sites, as well as scholarships for healthcare students at all NSU sites. The university has regional campuses in Miramar, Palm Beach Gardens, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Orlando and San Juan, Puerto Rico.