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Program Aims To Alleviate State Physician Shortage

Courtesy UNM School of Medicine
Members of the BA/MD program at the 2014 white coat ceremony

  New Mexico has a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas.  On this episode, we look at a program at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine that is working to address that by recruiting promising high school students who want to work in New Mexico to enter the Combined BA/MD Program. The students earn an undergraduate degree through the College of Arts and Sciences in a curriculum designed to prepare them for medical school. They can then transition into UNM school of medicine to train as doctors.

 

Dr. Renee Varoz graduating from medical school

Guests:

  • Dr. Valerie Romero-Leggott, vice chancellor for diversity with the UNM Health Sciences Center Office For Diversity and executive director of the UNM Combined BA/MD program
  • Dr. Renee Varoz, graduate from the first BA/MD class currenty working at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque
  • Rushi Mankad, undergraduate in the BA/MD program from Hobbs, New Mexico
Megan has been a journalist for 25 years and worked at business weeklies in San Antonio, New Orleans and Albuquerque. She first came to KUNM as a phone volunteer on the pledge drive in 2005. That led to volunteering on Women’s Focus, Weekend Edition and the Global Music Show. She was then hired as Morning Edition host in 2015, then the All Things Considered host in 2018. Megan was hired as News Director in 2021.