Welcome to Medical School UIW’s School of Osteopathic Medicine welcomed 160 incoming students at the Annual White Coat Ceremony. This rite of passage marks a student’s official start to their medical education as they are presented with their first white coat. Among the future physicians is Alec Basterrechea who received his white coat from UIW President Dr. Thomas Evans. Basterrechea was a student at Carroll College where Evans served as president prior to UIW.
Future physicians are training to help address a severe shortage of healthcare professionals in South Texas thanks to the Laredo Medical Center Residency Program created in partnership with the Laredo Medical Center and the University of the Incarnate Word.
When it launched in July 2018, the program was the first-ever graduate medical education training program in the region. In its first year, it offered eight residencies in family medicine and nine in internal medicine. Since its launch, residents have had tens of thousands of patient encounters in clinic and hospital settings, including in the emergency department, admitting, surgical assistance and more. Residents work with physicians to provide patient care.
Today, 33 residents, two staff members and nine physicians are hard at work expanding clinical knowledge and elevating patient care in the region through the residency program. The 2019 residents were selected from 2,400 applications from medical students all over the country.
