Davis, Calif. — Long-range plans to open a new veterinary medical program remain underway, University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (UC-Davis) officials say.

The proposed school, tentatively destined for the University of California’s San Diego campus, likely would operate separately from the institution’s current veterinary medical program in Davis and have a clinical focus. While “nothing significant” could be shared at press time, officials say, The Regents of the University of California have been mulling plans to open a second school for more than a year.

If founded, the school will mark the nation’s 29th veterinary medical program in the United States. To date, Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., ranks as the nation’s newest veterinary college, which admitted its charter class of 85 students in fall 2003. The program recently received limited accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education.