Ignacio A. Santos School of Medicine

The Ignacio A. Santos School of Medicine (Escuela de Medicina Ignacio A. Santos, aka: EMIS) is the medical school division of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM). Established in 1978 in Monterrey, Mexico. The School of Medicine was founded to satisfy the country's need for high quality medical training and innovation in biomedical research. Currently, there are approximately 500 students enrolled in the M.D. program and about 105 postgraduate students. Aside from the medical doctor program, the School of Medicine also offers a joint M.D.-Ph.D. program with Houston Methodist Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas A&M Health Science Center, and other Bachelors in Nursing, Nutrition Sciences and Biomedical Engineering. The graduate medical education department offers several medical residency and fellowship programs. According to the National Association of School and Faculties of Medicine of Mexico (Asociación Nacional de Facultades y Escuelas de Medicina, ANFEM) the school is the third best medical school in the country as of 2009. In the mid 20th century up until the 1970s, directors of ITESM felt that academic standards were falling in the medical fields in Mexico and decided to establish their own medical school. In the 1970s, Ignacio A. Santos, an entrepreneur and philanthropist in Monterrey donated the Hospital San Jóse (HSJ) to ITESM to establish the new program. Another reason for the establishment of the school was to provide advanced and specialized training, which before was studied by Mexican students in the United States. ITESM took over operations of the hospital along with develop the medical education program, naming it the "Escuela de Medicina Ignacio A. Santos "(EMIS) of Tecnológico de Monterrey (Ignacio A. Santos Medical School) in August 1978. The first class had 27 students selected from a list of 85 applicants. The Medical School is part of the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) system which has 31 campuses in various parts of Mexico.