Program aims for more family physicians

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A new educational partnership between Youngstown State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University aims to increase the number of primary-care physicians serving medically underserved populations throughout the region.

The YSU-BaccMed program, which will enroll its first students next fall, allows individuals who want to become primary-care physicians to earn both bachelor’s and medical degrees within a variety of time lines, including a compressed, seven-year period.

“For more than four decades, YSU and NEOMED have worked together to provide talented and dedicated doctors for communities throughout the region,” said Martin Abraham, YSU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “This new program builds upon that strong and successful relationship by re-affirming the commitment of both universities to produce graduates dedicated to serving as primary-care physicians, particularly for rural, urban and economically disadvantaged populations.”

The YSU-BaccMed is a nominal 3 + 4 program: three-year BaccMed bachelor of science degree pathways are available in biological sciences and biochemistry, followed by four years of medical school at NEOMED for the medical degree.

But BaccMed also allows flexibility for YSU students from a variety of majors to be considered for conditional admission into NEOMED during their second YSU year, and supplement their YSU programs as needed with courses from BaccMed B.S. pathways; time lines for such students could be four, plus four years or more.

The first YSU-BaccMed class in fall 2016 will include 20 students. The second class, which starts in fall 2017, will have 40 students, and the third class, starting in fall 2018, will have 70 students.

“YSU-BaccMed is built on the premise of finding talented students who want to enter the field of primary health care, set up practices for people in rural, urban, and economically disadvantaged areas, and/or do research related to and supporting primary care and medically underserved communities,” said Stephen Rodabaugh, associate dean of the YSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the YSU-NEOMED liaison officer.