It’s well known that Nevada rarely tops lists when it comes to accessibility of mental health services. The Silver State ranked 50th among U.S. states in 2013 for number of psychiatrists per capita and routinely falls at the bottom of Mental Health America’s overall ranking of access to care.

One of the most visible components of the budding UNLV medical school debuts Thursday as officials open the doors on a downtown center that will provide a comprehensive suite of diagnostic services and treatment for children and young adults with autism.

William lives in a high-crime neighborhood. Julia doesn’t own a car and has few public transportation options. Michael lost his job two years ago and now is homeless. Ever since her husband died, Andrea, a retiree, has spent most of her time at home alone. Are these health-related issues? While we think of crime, homelessness, housing, transportation, poverty, unemployment, and loneliness as social and economic issues, they all can affect your health. So much so that the UNLV School of Medicine is addressing these issues in its curriculum.

Offering basic health services to underserved kids at school isn’t a novel idea.

But as the budding UNLV School of Medicine prepares for its proposed July 2017 debut, the institution says it will take over four Clark County school-based health facilities with plans for innovation.

Kalyan Tatineny, a radiologist with Radiology Associates of Nevada, projected two chest X-rays side by side on screen in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas classroom. One showed an internal image of a typical, healthy body — each translucent rib in alignment, a clearly defined, asymmetric heart and nearly invisible lungs. The image on the right was atypical, showing an enlarged heart with less clearly defined borders.

It could be a typical summer class at UNLV, with science majors picking up a few extra credits.

Nevada’s first public medical school is leaving Las Vegas after more than 30 years.

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine will break most of its Southern Nevada ties as it undergoes a redevelopment plan, a move that also comes as the UNLV School of Medicine prepares for the launch of its own campus in July 2017.

It’s been a vision of UNLV leaders for years: A widely supported medical school educating the region’s future doctors and bearing the university’s name.

The board governing health-related decisions in Clark County entered its Thursday meeting with a mission to answer one looming question: Is the current trauma system meeting the region's needs?

The Clark County Commission formally transferred more than nine acres to UNLV for its new medical school Tuesday.

UNLV’s nascent medical school has a place to call home after clearing one final bureaucratic hurdle to claim a spot inside the Las Vegas Medical District.

In 2002 University Medical Center lost more than $20 million — a year later it was losing money at a rate of more than $2 million per month.