Temple University has announced that its school of medicine has been re-named and dedicated to honor the late businessman, philanthropist and Temple alumnus, Lewis Katz.

Temple University’s medical school is now known as the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM).

Katz was a 1963 graduate of Temple, a longtime trustee and a benefactor of the University and its School of Medicine. Prior to Katz’s death in a May 2014 plane crash, he had announced a $25-million gift to Temple University. His contribution was the largest single donation in Temple’s history.

“St. Luke’s is proud to have a regional medical school campus in partnership with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University,” said Joel C. Rosenfeld, MD, FACS, Chief Academic Officer, St. Luke’s University Health Network; Senior Associate Dean, Temple-St. Luke’s School of Medicine, and professor of surgery at LKSOM. “Our regional campus is referred to as Temple-St. Luke’s School of Medicine.”

During their first year of instruction, Temple-St. Luke’s students are by St. Luke’s physicians who travel to LKSOM in Philadelphia. Second-year students attend classes on campus at St. Luke’s University Hospital - Bethlehem and continue their third and fourth year clinical rotations at St. Luke’s University Hospital.

The first graduating class from the Temple-St. Luke’s School of Medicine was May 6, 2015. Eight students, or 28 percent, have continued their medical education at St. Luke’s, according to Dr. Rosenfeld, and are mid-way to completing their first year of residency.

“We are looking forward to National Match Day, which is March 18, 2016, a day of celebration for every medical student across the country,” said Rosenfeld. “This is the day when medical residency programs match with their highest-ranked medical students, and medical students learn where they will continue their medical training as residents.” For the fourth-year students at Temple-St. Luke’s, match day could mean staying in Bethlehem to further their training or moving on to another residency program.

St. Luke’s is a teaching hospital, offering more than 180 intern-residents/fellowship positions in 15 accredited programs. St. Luke’s School of Nursing is the nation’s oldest operating nursing school in the United States, which enrolls more than 150 nursing students. As a major allied health training site, more than 200 students representing 22 colleges, universities and technical institutes annually spend in excess of 55,000 hours at St. Luke’s.

St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully-integrated, nationally-recognized network providing services at six hospitals and more than 215 sites, primarily in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County, N.J.

Information about the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University-St. Luke’s University Health Network: temple-stlukes.slhn.org

Information about other graduate medical education programs at St. Luke’s University Health Network: sluhn.org/medical-education