Last week, at a three-day orientation event, the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV welcomed its seventh cohort of medical students, a cohort that is full of exciting "firsts"!

The class of 2027 is the largest in the school’s history. Of the 66 students: 30 are male and 36 are female, 32% come from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine, 28% are first-generation college students, and four are veterans. Of course, all students meet the school of medicine's academic standards with a cumulative GPA of 3.73 and average MCAT score of 509. The group is composed of alumni from NSHE institutions such as UNLV; University of Nevada, Reno; and Nevada State College. The class also welcomes graduates from other esteemed institutions across the country including Brown University; Cornell University; University of Southern California; and University of California, Los Angeles.

On July 11, students met – many for the first time – in the bright and airy second floor lobby of the Medical Education Building. They'll be the first to have their orientation and all four years of undergraduate medical education take place at the new building. The 66 medical students gathered on the steps of the Barbara Atkinson Forum for their first group photo. Throughout their four years of undergraduate medical education (UME), the five-story, 135,000-square-foot structure – complete with a simulation lab, pro-section lab, virtual anatomy classrooms, and gym space for students – will serve as their academic homebase.

The class is also the first to be sorted into learning communities, a new initiative that connects students across all years of UME. It had been a years-long dream of Dean Marc J. Kahn and Dr. Robert Hernandez, Jr., vice dean for academic affairs and education, to implement learning communities. Seventy students from the classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026 have volunteered to act as mentors within the learning communities, and students will maintain these four groups – each with their own mascot and signature color – throughout their time in medical school, gaining new members with each new class of students.

Kathryn Pauli, manager of well-being and integrative medicine, explains how those student mentors helped make last week’s orientation a memorable one. "Dedicated students from the classes of 2026, 2025, and 2024 worked collaboratively to create and implement three days of programming to allow students from the class of 2027 to get to know one another and to learn about the specialized spaces throughout MEB,” Pauli says. “I was so proud to see the students' vision for orientation come to fruition, and the students from the class of 2027 seemed to really enjoy themselves."

Even with all of these thrilling "firsts," the school of medicine’s mission remains the same: serving its patients, students, medical professionals, and community as a transformational force for improving health care in Nevada. 

“As the assistant dean for admissions, it is such a joy to hear everyone's excitement during acceptance phone calls and to see admitted applicants at all of our various events leading up to orientation,” says Cindy Stella. “It's an incredible amount of work to apply to medical school. We look forward to the class carrying forward our mission for Nevada while fulfilling their dreams of being a doctor. It's my pleasure to once again say congratulations and warmly welcome everyone to the class of 2027 at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.”