Indiana University School of Medicine dean explains how it will use $400 million gift from IU Health

“I think this is an investment in the health of Indiana,” said Dr. Jay L. Hess, dean of the IU School of Medicine.

IU Health late last year decided to give the school $400 million. Hess said the university will get the money over three years. The school of medicine has an annual budget of about $1.9 billion and 365 medical students per year. Hess said the school plans to use a portion of the $400 million to support residency and fellowship spots throughout Indiana to incentivize graduates to remain and work in Indiana, both as doctors and professors.

For subscribers:IU Health has given money to IU before — but never this much, and never like this

The dean said the dollars will bolster the iDREAM program, which provides stipends for medical residents “to enhance representational diversity among the physician workforce to better reflect the diversity of the populations they teach and serve.”

Hess said about a third of the money will pay for recruiting department chairs and faculty in fields including surgery, pathology, neurosurgery, family medicine, radiology, dermatology and pathology. The chair of one of those departments may recruit 30 faculty or more within a couple of years, he said.