One key moment in the history of the medical school goes back to 2010 when Founding Dean Dr. Bruce Koeppen began laying the foundation of the medical school — as construction crews continued to build the school’s physical structure.

“In November 2010, we started with nothing; no faculty, no staff, no building and certainly no students,” Koeppen recently told faculty and staff at the State of the School Address. “We weren’t even the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.”

“Each day I walk into the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, and I am in awe of the quality of the facilities we have — including our new research lab,” he said.

The medical school has undergone rapid growth — from 60 students to 360 who are increasingly diverse.

“Diversity empowers us to become a better medical school,” he said. “People from different backgrounds bring diversity of experience, diversity of perspective and diversity of ideas — which, collectively, can only make us better.”

Today, industry-leading physicians — who Koeppen lauds as “unmatched in quality and dedication to medical school education” — serve on the School of Medicine’s faculty, helping their students achieve back-to-back 100 percent match rates with some of the country’s most competitive residency programs.

“No matter what metric you look at — whether that be MCAT scores, undergraduate GPA, USMLE performance, residency match or research and capstone projects, they are indeed exceptional,” he said.

But it’s not just the school’s MD students who are high performers.

“The school’s anesthesiologist assistant program continues to do well,” Koeppen said. “The class that graduated on Friday had a 100% pass rate on their licensing exam, and all have landed very well-paying jobs.”

The medical school’s 40 clinical affiliates and partners are continuing to grow — in prestige and geographic reach, now extending all of the way to the Canadian border.

It’s also expanded across the Atlantic.

“A few weeks ago, a team from Quinnipiac University, which included President Judy Olian and Board of Trustees Chairman Bill Weldon, traveled to Oxford University to lay the framework for an affiliation agreement between our institutions focused on neuroscience, neurology and rehabilitation medicine,” Koeppen said. Two Quinnipiac students and two Oxford students have already participated in a student educational exchange program.

As the school looks toward the future, Koeppen said he has nothing but confidence.

“We have accomplished much on this journey,” he said. “Every day I am reminded of how lucky and blessed I am to be the dean of this school, and to have the privilege and honor of working with each and every one of you. We are no longer a new school, but rather a young school — and we have much more to do, but I have great confidence in the outcome.”