Alice Walton could build whatever she wanted with her fortune. She chose to build a medical school.
In Bentonville, Arkansas, the Walmart heiress opened the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, right across from the Crystal Bridges art museum, the same one she founded years ago. The decision was not just about putting up a building: it was about removing the barrier that pushes so many young people to give up on the dream of becoming doctors before they even begin. The first five classes will not pay tuition.
Inside, students do not just study anatomy or pharmacology. They are taught to see the whole patient—their physical health, their mind, their community—with art as part of their daily training. Walton bet her money on a simple idea: the best doctors are not only those who know the most, but those who never stopped seeing the person behind the illness.
