The marathon march toward a Valley medical school at UC Merced continues to gather momentum. In today's editorial, we praise the recent efforts of Congressmen Jim Costa of Fresno and Dennis Cardoza of Merced to pull together a coalition of Valley leaders to support this important effort.

The UC Board of Regents meet in May and UC Merced officials will be requesting permission to continue planning for a medical school that would serve the entire Valley. The plans call for the students to do their first two years of study on the main campus and then take their clinical training primarily in Fresno's hospitals. Studies show that doctors tend to settle down wherever they get their training.

Unless there is a seismic change in the medical profession, this is the only way that the Valley will get enough physicians to meet the needs of its residents in the future. Already, we are pouring money into other regions because so many people must leave the Valley for specialists. That's just wrong.

Add your voice to the demand for a medical school by writing to the board of regents. Here's how:

Send letters regarding a Valley medical school to this address: President of the University, 1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor, Oakland, CA 94607-5200; fax (510) 987-9224; e-mail regentsoffice@ucop.edu. The names and addresses of the individual members of the Board of Regents are available online by clicking here.