PORTLAND (AP) - Oregon Health & Science University plans to open a new medical school in Eugene by this summer, and more such satellite campuses are planned around the state, hospital officials said Tuesday.

Medical school Dean Joe Robertson said OHSU is partnering with PeaceHealth, a Eugene hospital, and the University of Oregon, to place first, third and fourth year medical students in Eugene.

The research universities estimates that the new campus will allow them to increase the size of their graduating class up to 25 percent over the next few years, a welcome outcome as the number of physicians declines statewide.

Robertson told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the state is expected to lose about 13 percent of its doctors by the end of 2006, thanks to factors including retirements, relocations and career changes.

“The shortage is felt in some specialties today, it will be felt by many by 2010, it will be significant by 2015 and probably be in the 15 to 30 percent range by 2020,” Robertson said. “We train no more physicians now than we did 20 to 25 years ago either in the state or nationally.”

He also said that compared to the rest of the country, Oregon currently trains only half as many physicians per capita.

Right now, OHSU graduates 112 doctors per year.

The Eugene school is projected to increase that figure to 160.

The current doctor shortage is felt most acutely in rural towns across the state, which have reported serious problems in attracting and keeping physicians.

After Eugene, OHSU may open another medical school in Corvallis, in partnership with Oregon State University.

The Eugene site will offer some clinical clerkships within the PeaceHealth system beginning in the 2006-07 school year. By the 2008-09 school year, the first-year medical school curriculum is expected to begin at the University of Oregon.

The second year of the medical school curriculum will only be offered at the OHSU campus in Portland.