Full Breakdown
Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine Launches as Bay Area’s First New Medical School in a Century
5/16/2026, 6:09:00 AM
Announcement and Funding
Venture-capitalist Mark Stevens and his wife Mary have pledged $175 million to create the Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine, a joint venture of Sutter Health and Santa Clara University. The 82,000-square-foot campus in Santa Clara, two miles from Nvidia’s headquarters, will admit roughly 120 students per class and is slated to open after a multiyear accreditation process, expected within three to five years.
Stakeholders and Scale
The Stevens have previously contributed $40 million to Santa Clara athletics and $200 million to USC for AI research, and they are long-time Sutter patients. Sutter operates 30 residency programs, training about 575 residents and fellows by 2027, and plans a 272-bed hospital by 2031. California faces a shortage of roughly 100,000 physicians annually, with 7 million residents lacking adequate primary or mental-health care.
Impact and Strategic Vision
Embedded within Sutter’s integrated health system, the school will blend classroom instruction with real-world clinical rotations, leveraging Sutter’s Innovation Center and Santa Clara’s Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI. The model aims to address California’s physician pipeline gap while training graduates to use AI and simulation tools without compromising the human-centered care emphasized by the university’s Jesuit tradition.
Official Statements & Responses
Governor Gavin Newsom called the partnership a “new model for medical education built to support a more innovative, connected healthcare ecosystem.” Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas highlighted shared values and the school’s role in training physicians for future health-system needs. Santa Clara President Julie Sullivan stressed alignment with the university’s Jesuit mission and the importance of technology that augments, not replaces, human connection. Sutter executive Conrad Vial described the initiative as a “real-world practice, innovation, and continuous learning” model.
Verbatim Quotes
- “We are profoundly grateful for the extraordinary naming gift from the Stevens family, who embody the values and standards of excellence of both organizations.” — Julie Sullivan, President, Santa Clara University
- “We chose to partner with Santa Clara University because of our shared values and a belief in a more human-centered, forward-looking model of care,” — Warner Thomas, President & CEO, Sutter Health
- “AI is the fourth industrial revolution … In 10 years from now, the world will be unrecognizable to all of us because of the impact of AI that will have on society,” — Mark Stevens, Venture Capitalist, Nvidia Director
- “California doesn’t wait for the future — we build it,” — Governor Gavin Newsom, Governor of California
What’s Next
The school will seek Liaison Committee on Medical Education accreditation, with the first class expected in 2029-2030. Students will spend two years on campus and two years in Sutter clinical rotations. Joint projects with the Cunningham Shoquist Center and Sutter’s Innovation Center will begin in the 2027 academic year, and a Bronco Student Health Clinic is slated to open in Fall 2026.
