🎓🩺 A Medical School Built by a Billionaire (and Why It Might Change Everything)
Photo Courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine
What do you get when the world’s richest woman decides to reinvent medical school?
A school that throws the old rules out the window – and invites future doctors to start with wellness instead of just treating sickness.
Meet the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Arkansas. Opened in 2025 and named after Walmart heiress Alice Walton, this new school is flipping the script on how doctors are trained – and it’s worth cheering for right here from Shreveport/Bossier!
🌿 Wellness Over Illness
Instead of just memorizing diseases and prescriptions, students at this school are taught to focus on why people get sick in the first place – and how to help them stay healthy.
Think:
Nutrition
Mental health
Exercise
Stress management
Art and empathy (yes, really – students even take sketching classes at a museum!)
It’s called a “whole health” approach, and it means doctors will treat the whole person, not just a broken arm or a high blood pressure reading.
💸 No Tuition? Seriously?
Here’s the jaw-dropper: Alice Walton is personally paying the full tuition for the first five graduating classes. That’s 240+ students who get to chase their dream of becoming a doctor without student debt.
She wants to make medical school accessible to people from all backgrounds – especially those who want to serve their hometowns and small communities.
🏥 A Campus That Heals
The building itself looks more like a wellness retreat than a traditional med school. Picture this:
A rooftop park (yes, really)
Healing gardens
Trails that connect to the local art museum
Open-air classrooms and bright, modern design
Even the walls are saying, “Hey, let’s breathe.”
👩⚕️👨⚕️ Why It Matters for Us
This could be a game-changer for small cities and rural areas – places just like Shreveport and Bossier. Many of these students say they want to serve in underserved areas. And when they graduate, they’ll be ready to help communities feel better, live longer, and stay healthy before health problems hit.
It’s the kind of news we love sharing on SBC Dirt: bold ideas, local connections, and real hope for a healthier future.