Features File:
Stories about our people and programs
The Faces of Our Future
Health Care Providers
The minority population continues to grow within our nation and that means patients are more diverse than ever. Through various recruitment and retention programs, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston addresses the need for diversity among our future health care providers.
The goal of increasing diversity among health care students is linked to research showing underserved patients may be better reached by physicians from similar backgrounds. According to a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, patients who are of the same race as their health care provider report more satisfaction with their physician.
UT Houston Responds to Need
for More Geriatric Specialists
As the country faces a critical shortage of health care workers to meet the needs of millions of aging baby boomers, researchers and clinicians at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are rising to the challenge by training and educating those who will be on the front lines of care.
That response includes a new geriatric fellowship at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston; the interdisciplinary Houston Geriatric Education Center established with a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Center on Aging and a geriatric nurse practitioner program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing; and the addition of geriatric specialists across the university.
UT piques teen interest in medicine,
In effort to address doctor shortage
It wasn’t your typical Tuesday morning for Avik Som and his classmates from Cypress Falls High School, who got a chance to revive a “bionic man,” inspect the internal cavities of a cadaver and pick the brains of first-year medical school students.
They were participating in a teen outreach program designed to spark an interest in health care professions. It was organized by the Admissions Office of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston to help address the statewide physician shortage.
“With the physician shortage, it’s crucial to reach out to students before they get to college,” said Judianne Kellaway, M.D., assistant dean for admissions and the Stephen A. Lasher III Professor in Ophthalmology at the UT Medical School at Houston. “We have programs for high school students and programs for middle school students, too.”