@REL -- thanks for the extremely detailed history detailing where we are. One question remains unanswered, perhaps because it is irrelevant, due to the existence of the consortium, or maybe because nothing has yet been done. But I was always under the impression that the Lake Nona Medical Center would be hosting residencies, what we lay pre-meds would refer to as home residencies, where we could network with PDs while doing research and clinical rotations while attending school on-site.
Is this never happening? Or has it not yet been decided? Or will it be happening sometime in the next 4 years?
While the affiliation model you describe might be the norm in Florida, my understanding that most med schools are, in fact, under common ownership with the entities that host their home residencies, with Harvard being the big exception among top programs. Mayo, Hopkins, Penn, Pitt, Chicago, Northwestern, Mt. Sinai, Stanford, UCSF, UCLA, Michigan, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, Jefferson, Cooper, Hackensack, Kaiser, Emory, Duke, etc., etc., etc.. Public, private -- doesn't seem to matter. Florida actually seems to be on an island by itself here! Am I misunderstanding something here?