President Francisco Cigarroa, M.D., delivered the Robert E. Goss Lecture at the American Pediatric Surgical Association annual meeting.
Printer Friendly Format

Using the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) as a model of how to improve life for low-income and minority populations, President Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., urged fellow pediatric surgeons to support improvements to the public education system and increased government funding for education and health care.

These changes are necessary, Dr. Cigarroa said, to successfully provide a well-rounded education for all young people, make it possible for them to enter the field of health care and encourage them to return and provide for the medical needs of their communities.

Dr. Cigarroa received a standing ovation after delivering the Robert E. Goss Lecture at the American Pediatric Surgical Association’s annual meeting May 25.

Crisis in education and health care
Dr. Cigarroa said that there is a “gathering storm that is threatening the very practice of the art of medicine for future generations as never before.” The “storm” includes:
• Increased high school and college dropout rates, especially among minority students and the poor.
▪ Legislative appropriations that have not kept up with inflation and the growth of universities, resulting in higher education costs for those choosing to enter the medical professions.
▪ Burgeoning minority and elderly populations that will need the help of many more health care professionals in the future.
▪ Federal budget deficits that are eroding the growth of the National Institutes of Health and decreasing research funding when major advances in human health are within reach.

A solution that works
Dr. Cigarroa said that under his leadership, the Health Science Center has developed a model that is working in South Texas — the RAHC. Funded and authorized by the 75th Texas Legislature, the RAHC is an extension of the Health Science Center in the Lower Rio Grande Valley that includes two campuses, a Medical Education Division in Harlingen and the Medical Research Division in Edinburg. The RAHC provides:

▪ Educational opportunities for those who live in South Texas to enter the health professions.
▪ Clinical partnerships with South Texas hospitals that provide a way for local physicians to become mentors to Health Science Center medical students and residents, while at the same time providing for the needs of this medically underserved population.
▪ A state-of-the-art research facility to attract research-oriented faculty to the border region to examine the health problems that are common in the Hispanic population.

Proof
“In less than four years, we have educated nearly 100 medical students who have done their third and fourth years of medical school at the RAHC,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “They have performed equivalent to our medical students at our San Antonio campus on their medical boards. All have successfully matched into their residencies and the majority have a desire to return to the Texas-Mexico border region to practice. Sixty percent of physicians completing their residencies in our border campuses are staying there to practice and many also are responding to the care of the uninsured by choosing to practice in federally qualified health clinics.

“The creation of the RAHC has also had a positive impact on the high schools and colleges in the region by stimulating the interest of their students who are largely Hispanic to pursue health professional education,” Dr. Cigarroa said. “The Health Science Center is now the number one public medical school graduating the most Hispanics in the nation.

“I strongly believe that his paradigm in establishing regional academic health centers that are linked to our schools of medicine will be an important means of addressing access to health care, serving as catalysts to increase opportunities for students of all backgrounds to pursue health professional education, especially those who might have otherwise felt that their dream to become a physician was impossible,” he said.

“This model,” he added, “captures a rich and diverse student population who will play a critical role in the delivery of health care to America’s tapestry of citizens in a culturally competent manner.”