Xavier Medical School Gets a New Campus in Aruba
Left: (From left) Dr. Arun Kumar Dubey, Dean of Xavier School, Dr Ganesh Bhat, Chancellor; Edwin Casey, Chairman; Dr
Dayan Naik, Board of Trustees; Dr Richard Visser, Aruba Minister of Health cutting ribbon; and Ravishankar Bhooplapur, President.
Right: New Campus of Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba Aruba: The Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba, celebrated its official inauguration of the new main campus with a formal ribbon cutting ceremony on January 10, 2011.
Gracing the ceremony were President of the School, Ravishankar Bhooplapur, Chancellor J. Ganesh Bhat, Chairman Edward Casey, the newest Board member Dr. Dayan Naik and the Honorable Richard Visser, Aruban Minister of Health.
Dr. Visser was gracious enough to address the school’s student population and faculty. He expressed his deep admiration and respect for the medical profession, which calls for sacrifices by its practitioners.
In separate addresses, the President and Board of Trustees expressed deep pride in the faculty, the curriculum and the students. They too renewed their commitment to quality medical education.
Originally, the Xavier University School of Medicine campus was located at 12 Pardanbaistraat and the surrounding buildings. When the new student-oriented administration took control in 2008, its immediate priority was “to make Xavier School of Medicine, Aruba an institution its students could be proud of”. The administration felt soon that the old campus could not meet the demands of the growing student population nor could it accommodate planned improvements in the academic setting and the academic curriculum.
With a clear mandate from the Board of Trustees, President Ravishankar Bhooplapur engineered a series of deft real estate agreements and gained control over the new main campus and has quite noticeably improved all aspects of the student population’s academic experience since. Physical improvements include a computer test center exclusively to NBME exams: an auditorium, a conference room, a growing library and Wi-Fi for all students and faculty. Improvements to the curriculum made possible by the change in locations and the acquisition of the 100,000 square feet main campus include the observer ship at the Horacio Oduber Hospital for MD 2 students, the introduction to USMLE class and the new Doctor Patient Relations class.
The administration of Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba is deeply committed to improving the University as a whole. Looking forward in this calendar year, the administration has earned a site visit from the ACCM. The visit is to take place soon and is the next step and latest example of Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba’s commitment to creating quality health-care physicians.
