In a region long underserved by its own healthcare system, San Joaquin County is attempting something it has never done before — growing its own healers. By partnering with Aria University to open a medical school near French Camp by 2027, county leaders are betting that the surest path to care is not recruitment from afar, but cultivation from within. It is a quiet acknowledgment that structural neglect requires structural remedy, and that the people most likely to serve a community are often those who already belong to it.
San Joaquin County to Open First Medical School to Address Healthcare Shortage
The region's healthcare shortage has left residents without adequate access to medical care, particularly affecting underserved communities in Stockton, Tracy, Modesto, and Lodi.
When students are taught in our backyard, they stay in our backyard.
Mark
Why does San Joaquin County need its own medical school? Couldn't students just go elsewhere and come back?
Mimi
They could, but most don't. Once someone leaves for training, they build their life somewhere else. The county is betting that if you train doctors and nurses here, in their home communities, they'll stay and practice here. It's about keeping talent from draining away.
Mark
What's the actual shortage like right now?
Mimi
It's severe. There aren't enough primary care doctors, not enough psychiatrists, and the nursing shortage is so bad that by 2030 the county won't have enough nurses just to care for the people who live here today. People are going without care.
Mark
Why is a dollar-a-year lease such a big deal?
Mimi
It means the university doesn't have to build from scratch or pay market rent. The county provides the building, keeps costs down, and gets a medical school in return. It's a way to make something happen that wouldn't happen otherwise.
Mark
What happens after students graduate?
Mimi
That's the real question. The school can train people, but whether they stay and practice in San Joaquin County depends on whether they can build lives here—whether there are jobs, whether the community feels like home. The county is betting the answer is yes.
Mark
How does this connect to the Be Well Campus?
Mimi
The Be Well Campus will need about 600 new employees when it opens in a couple of years. The medical school is being positioned as a source for some of those workers. It's coordinated planning—build the school, train the workforce, staff the new facility.
Mark
Is this enough to solve the healthcare crisis?
Mimi
It's a start. One medical school won't instantly fix years of underinvestment and brain drain. But it signals that the county is serious about building its own healthcare workforce instead of just hoping people will move there.
The Pulse
- San Joaquin County is on a collision course with its own healthcare crisis — projected to run short of nurses by 2030, with primary care and psychiatric shortages already acute across Stockton, Tracy, Modesto, and Lodi.
- The region has watched skilled professionals leave for better-resourced areas for years, a brain drain that has quietly hollowed out the local medical workforce.
- Aria University will take over a renovated county building near San Joaquin General Hospital under a symbolic $1-per-year lease, turning existing infrastructure into a launchpad for local medical education.
- County leaders are racing to have the school admitting students by 2027 — just in time to begin filling the roughly 600 positions the incoming Be Well Campus health complex will demand.
- The deeper wager is cultural as much as logistical: students trained in the county, officials believe, are far more likely to stay and practice there, converting education into lasting community care.
In a region long underserved by its own healthcare system, San Joaquin County is attempting something it has never done before — growing its own healers. By partnering with Aria University to open a medical school near French Camp by 2027, county leaders are betting that the surest path to care is not recruitment from afar, but cultivation from within. It is a quiet acknowledgment that structural neglect requires structural remedy, and that the people most likely to serve a community are often those who already belong to it.
San Joaquin County is about to gain something it has never had — a medical school. Set to open in French Camp by 2027, the campus will occupy a renovated county building near San Joaquin General Hospital, operated by Aria University under a 30-year lease at just one dollar a year. The arrangement lets the county avoid construction costs while giving the university a facility that needs only modest work to become functional.
The decision emerges from a crisis years in the making. The county faces severe shortages of primary care doctors, psychiatrists, and nurses — so severe that officials project the region will lack sufficient nursing staff to serve its existing population by 2030. Genevieve Valentine, the county's director of Health Care Services, described the situation plainly: San Joaquin is underserved to an extreme degree. For residents of Stockton, Tracy, Modesto, and Lodi, that shortage is not an abstraction — it means people who need care cannot find it.
County Supervisor Sonny Dhaliwal framed the school's purpose in straightforward terms: students educated locally tend to stay locally. The goal is to stop the steady exodus of skilled professionals to better-resourced regions — and to build a workforce with genuine roots in the community it will serve.
The timing is deliberate. San Joaquin County plans to open the Be Well Campus within two years, a centralized complex integrating health and social services that will require approximately 600 new employees. The medical school is designed to begin feeding that pipeline before the need becomes critical. Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi put the human stakes simply: the community is in desperate need of healthcare and currently does not have adequate access to it. County leaders are moving forward with the conviction that training the next generation of caregivers at home is the most durable answer they have.
San Joaquin County is about to get something it has never had: a medical school. The campus will open in French Camp by 2027, housed in a renovated county building that sits near San Joaquin General Hospital. Aria University, a private nonprofit institution, will operate the school under a 30-year lease negotiated at a dollar a year—a deal that lets the county avoid the cost of new construction while providing the university with a ready-made facility that needs only modest renovation to be operational.
The decision to bring medical education to the region reflects a crisis that has been building for years. San Joaquin County faces a severe shortage of healthcare workers across nearly every category. There are not enough primary care doctors. There are not enough psychiatrists. The nursing shortage is so acute that county officials project the region will lack sufficient nurses to serve its current population by 2030—before accounting for any population growth. Genevieve Valentine, the director of Health Care Services for San Joaquin County and the first woman to hold that position, described the situation plainly: the county is underserved to an extreme degree.
For residents of Stockton, Tracy, Modesto, and Lodi, the consequences are immediate and tangible. People who need care cannot find it. The medical school is being positioned as a partial answer to that problem. By training physicians and nurses locally, county leaders believe they can accomplish two things at once: improve healthcare access for residents who currently lack it, and keep talented professionals in the region rather than watching them leave for better-resourced areas elsewhere.
San Joaquin County Supervisor Sonny Dhaliwal, who represents District 3, framed the opportunity in direct terms. When students are educated in the county, they tend to stay in the county. This is not abstract workforce planning—it is a strategy to stop what he called brain drain, the steady exodus of skilled professionals to other regions. Valentine echoed the point, noting that local investment in medical education creates a pipeline of workers who already have roots in the community.
The timing aligns with another major county initiative. Within two years, San Joaquin County plans to open the Be Well Campus, a centralized complex that will house health services and social services under one roof. That facility will require approximately 600 new employees. The medical school, which is expected to begin admitting students in 2027, will help fill that need. Valentine described it as establishing a pipeline before the demand becomes critical.
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi emphasized what is at stake for ordinary residents. The community is in desperate need of healthcare, she said, and currently does not have adequate access to it. A teaching hospital connected to the medical school would change that equation, giving people in the region the ability to receive care they are now forced to seek elsewhere or go without.
The project represents a significant bet that education and workforce development can address a structural problem in healthcare delivery. Whether it succeeds will depend partly on whether graduates choose to practice in San Joaquin County after completing their training, and partly on whether the region can attract additional healthcare providers once the school is established. For now, county leaders are moving forward with confidence that the investment will pay dividends. The medical school is expected to open its doors in 2027.
Notable Quotes
We are underserved to an extreme place. In fact, we will not have enough nurses by 2030 to just serve our current community, and we don't have enough psychiatrists or primary care doctors as is.— Genevieve Valentine, director of Health Care Services for San Joaquin County
When students are taught in our backyard, they stay in our backyard. This will help reduce the brain drain, or stop the brain drain.— San Joaquin County Supervisor Sonny Dhaliwal
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