Rural Medicine Residency Program Established

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) at the Permian Basin Department of Family and Community Medicine is expanding its residency program by establishing training in rural medicine.

The first two residents in the program will begin their training in July and begin a year of training at the Odessa campus with the Department of Family and Community Medicine.  Residents will then complete the final two years of the rural medicine residency in Fort Stockton or Alpine.

“Training physicians in a rural setting will better prepare them for the unique events and circumstances of patients without access to major medical centers,” said Family and Community Medicine Department Chair Timothy Benton, M.D.  “Additionally, their exposure to rural practice and lifestyle may encourage setting up long term practices in West Texas.”

TTUHSC at the Permian Basin is the only TTUHSC campus to offer residency training in rural medicine.

“We have an obligation to the communities we serve to provide them with the best medical care possible,” said TTUHSC at the Permian Basin Regional Dean Gary Ventolini, M.D.  “There is a very urgent need for rural medicine physicians in West Texas and establishing this new residency program will help provide quality medical care to the patients in those areas.”

TTUHSC at the Permian Basin is part of a seven-campus regional system that serves the greater Permian Basin area with three schools located on campus providing higher medical education in allied health sciences, medicine and nursing. TTUHSC at the Permian Basin was established in 1979 and began operations in the basement of Medical Center Hospital.

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