Program aims to address physician shortage by fast-tracking medical degrees

A new partnership between the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), Midland College (MC), and Midland Memorial Hospital (MMH) is aiming to bring more primary care physicians to the area by allowing students to earn osteopathic medicine degrees in just seven years, rather than the traditional eight years.

Under the Primary Care Pathway program, students would need to complete two years of fulltime study at MC. These students would spend the summer after their first year in a clinically-oriented program at MMH and then at a medical sciences-related program at UNTHSC after their second year. Students would then study for a year at the University of North Texas, followed by four years at UNTHSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Source: Midland Report-Telegram