In just a few weeks, the first-ever class of medical students for the new Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine will walk through its doors carrying their white coats with feelings of hope and uncertainty, the school’s dean said during a June 11 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The students will learn about molecular pathways, clinical reasoning and the science of medicine — but if the school’s staff does its job, the students will learn humility, service and “what it means to sit with another human being in moments of fear, pain, vulnerability and hope,” said Dr. Hershey Bell, founding dean of the school that local leaders have championed as an investment in the region’s health care system.
Bell told a crowd of more than 100 invited guests that the newly unveiled $60 million, 127,476- square-foot, five-story facility at 3518 Village Drive in Fayetteville will soon welcome the school’s inaugural class of 64 students…