TCU and UNTHSC School of Medecine
TCU and UNTHSC School of Medecine students, working a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Fort Worth
The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine continues to build momentum.
Three years ago, the school received preliminary accreditation and recruited its first class of M.D. students. This month, the school’s third class of “Empathetic Scholars” begins its studies. In late June, the school received provisional accreditation.
“This momentous step means that the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, our accrediting body, believes our mission to inspire Empathetic Scholars is progressing as planned, as our team leads in transforming medical education,” the school’s dean, Dr. Stuart Flynn, said in a message.
Flynn thanked donors and leaders “who helped us build collaborations throughout the community. While we may have the ingredients to build a medical school, we could not do this without our community locking arms with us and guiding us in the right direction.”
The Fort Worth healthcare entrepreneur Paul Dorman provided the school’s first class with a year of tuition, and an anonymous couple donated a first year of tuition for the school’s second class. “I wish everyone could have seen the surprise, disbelief, relief and absolute gratitude that the Class of 2024 displayed,” Flynn said.
The school’s third class starts in July. “This class was recruited entirely through virtual means, and many have never even visited Fort Worth or our school before,” Flynn said. “With more than 8,100 applications received, this class of 60 students will be warmly welcomed by our school, their upper-class members and, of course, the welcoming community of Fort Worth.”
The school, which has medical students interacting with patients from year one, has them engaged in the community.
“In response to the pandemic, our students held blood drives, PPE drives, read books to needy children, collected supplies for the homeless, administered thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations through a partnership with Baylor Scott & White All Saints and TCU,” Flynn said. “They love being servant leaders in our community, their home. Our faculty and staff have supported our students in all of these efforts.”
The school has now has “nearly 1,000 faculty members throughout North Texas who are supporting the educational mission of the school,” Flynn said. “Serving as mentors and preceptors, many are teaching our students in hospitals, clinics and physician offices. Hundreds more physicians and medical researchers are serving as mentors in the Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis course, our students’ four-year research project.”
Do you have a story idea you'd like to share with our readers? Please send an email to our editor, Scott Nishimura.