| by Brianna Kessler |Together Texas Christian University and UNT Health Science center have established a plan to fix the critical need for physicians in Texas and boost Fort Worth health care. In early July, both schools signed a memorandum of understanding to move forward on their plans to open Fort Worth's first medical school to award M.D. degrees. Students can begin applying in the fall of 2017 to become one of the first 60 doctors enrolled in the fall 2018 semester.
There is a national physician shortage, and Texas ranks 45 in the number of positions per 100,000 residents according to Dr. Thomas Yorio, UNTHSC Provost and Executive Vice President of Public Affairs.
There is a state rule that if you are a state funded medical school you must accept 90 percent of Texas residents. Which means the competition for out of state residents is lowered.
As of now, there are only two medical schools in the DFW area, which are UT Southwestern and UNTHSC. UNT currently offers a D.O. degree.
The new school will enhance all of the pre-established medical programs and aid in their team-based training, said Yorio. UNTHSC campus has a wide variety of medical programs including Biomedical Sciences, Public Health and Pharmacy.
"Health care is a team sport involving all roles in the health care field," he said. "We group students from different specialties together and put the patient at the center with all health care providers around them. This enables the students to establish their role in helping the patient."
This is unique collaboration of a public and private school coming together to create a medical program that prepares students to meet the health care needs of the future.
