Contact: Will Sansom, 210-567-2579

SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 25, 2010) — High school students in the Laredo area and the Lower Rio Grande Valley are invited to apply for early acceptance into the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio through the Facilitated Admissions for South Texas Scholars (FASTS) program. The application deadline is Feb. 1. Students can apply for the program as early as their junior year of high school.

The three FASTS partner universities are Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) in Laredo, UT Pan American in Edinburg and St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. Each is invaluable in helping selected students transition from their undergraduate programs into the School of Medicine.

In 2010, three Laredo-area students entered the School of Medicine through the FASTS program with TAMIU and five entered through the program with UT Pan American.

(Left to right) Chris Kimmel, Alissa Gonzalez and Rene Camacho are the first to enter the Health Science Center School of Medicine through FASTS from the Laredo area. They received their undergraduate science degrees from Texas A&M International University.
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Laredo area: Alissa Gonzalez
Alissa Gonzalez, a 2006 graduate of Hebbronville High School, became interested in medicine after shadowing Dr. Jose A. Gutierrez, a physician in her hometown, during high school.

“At that time, the only experience I’d had with medicine was as a patient,” she said. “Dr. Gutierrez showed me what it was like to be a doctor. I watched as he listened carefully to each patient and built a relationship with them. It was most inspiring when the patients openly showed their gratitude for his help. It was proof that this career was more than just a job. It was a chance to make someone’s life just a little bit better.”

Gonzalez was involved in the Med Ed Program through the Health Science Center’s Regional Campus in Laredo, which nurtures an interest in the medical and health professions by providing middle school and high school students with hands-on activities, mentoring and community service opportunities.

After participating in Med Ed, Gonzalez applied for FASTS as a TAMIU freshman. “Through FASTS I was given an invaluable opportunity. I was prepared for the MCAT and undergraduate classes by great instructors and we shadowed knowledgeable and compassionate doctors in San Antonio hospitals and clinics,” she said.

Melecio Medina, a 2007 graduate of McAllen High School, is one of five students from the Rio Grande Valley who entered the School of Medicine last fall through the FASTS program. They received their undergraduate training through UT Pan American.

McAllen: Melecio Medina
Medicine was already part of Medina’s heritage when he applied to the FASTS program as a senior at McAllen High School in 2007. “My first attraction to medicine came from my mother, Bertha Medina, M.D., who is a family practice physician in McAllen,” he said.

He majored in biology at UT Pan American and strengthened his training during the summers through FASTS. “The program helped me transition into medical school in three years instead of four, and in the summers it provided preceptorship experiences with doctors in San Antonio and classes at the medical school in anatomy and embryology and taking the MCAT,” he said.

To learn more about the FASTS program, which is open to all students in Texas, please visit the FASTS website. You can also call the School of Medicine’s admission office at 210-567-6080 or send an e-mail to MedAdmissions@uthscsa.edu.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled a record $259 million in fiscal year 2009. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.