100
8A: Provide information on the distinguishing characteristics of the programs within the unit. Discuss the unit’s programs in comparison with other programs such as number of faculty, student characteristics, [and] types of programs.
In 2011, there were 81 distinct BA/MD programs available at 57 United States medical schools (Eaglen et al., 2012). BA/MD programs vary enormously in their mission, goals, and purposes. Some programs seek to encourage honors students to become physicians, some to produce medical researchers or to shorten the duration of medical training, and others, like UNM’s Program, seek to increase the number of providers for rural and/or underserved populations. Of the 57 medical schools that offer BA/MD programs, 14 (25%) have one or both of the following as their stated goals: 1) the training of primary care and community practitioners; 2) meeting the needs of underserved populations. These 14 schools are listed in Table 8A-1; they are ordered alphabetically by state. UNM’s program is highlighted in gray. The 14 schools are located in all areas of the country, most restrict their applicants to high school students, and the programs vary greatly in size. UNM’s program is the second largest of schools with available data on class size, and is the only one of the 14 in the mountain west region of the country.
It is difficult to compare characteristics of UNM’s program, beyond those listed in Table 8A-1, with other schools’ since few schools have published data on the outcomes of their programs. Of the schools that have goals similar to UNM’s, we are aware of only two for which data on academic preparation, student retention, and minority status of students are available: Sophie Davis in New York (Roman, 2004) and Baylor College of Medicine in Texas (Thomson et al., 2010). (See Table 8A-2). UNM’s BA/MD Program is the youngest of those listed in the table; the number of students in our Program is larger than Baylor’s but considerably smaller than Sophie Davis’. Undergraduate matriculants’ at all three institutions had similar academic preparation, as measured by ACT scores. Retention rate, the percent of undergraduate
matriculants who move on to medical school is often low in the early years of a program, but tends to increase as the program becomes established. Sophie Davis has not published retention rates of its early years, but they state that in the last 15 years (their program had been running for 30 years at the time of the publication) their retention rate was 82-85%. The Baylor program had a fairly low retention rate for the first seven years of their program (63%) but retention rates had increased to 90% for the most recent four years. UNM’s rate of 69% is closer to the early years of the Baylor program than to the later years of either Sophie Davis or Baylor. We believe this is a reasonable rate considering the young age of our Program. UNM is intermediate in the percent of medical school matriculants who come from ethnic groups considered under-represented in medicine (55% at UNM, 33% at Sophie Davis and 82% at Baylor). We conclude, given limited comparison data, that UNM’s BA/MD Program compares favorably with the early years of more established programs.
101
Table 8A-1: Medical schools offering Combined Baccalaureate-MD Programs whose explicit goals are one or both of the following: to train primary care doctors; to emphasize the care of the underserved
State School Applicant
Pool*
# of Seats Available
DC Howard University College of Medicine HS 6-10
FL Florida State University College of Medicine HS 7
IN Indiana University School of Medicine HS 9-10
KS University of Kansas School of Medicine C2 16
MI Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
C3 Not stated MS University of Mississippi School of Medicine C2 Not stated NC The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina
University
HS 4
NM University of New Mexico HS 28
NY Albany Medical College HS 15
NY Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at the City College of New York
HS 70-75
NY State University of New York Upstate Medical University
HS Not stated
PA Drexel University College of Medicine HS Not stated
TX Baylor College of Medicine HS 10-15
TX Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
HS & C1 15
* HS = High School; C1 = 1st year college; C2 = 2nd year college; C3 = 3rd year college
102
Table 8A-2: Program outcomes for UNM’s BA/MD program and two other BA/MD programs with published outcome data that have similar goals to UNM’s
School Year Program Started # Students per under- graduate class Mean ACT of under- graduate matriculants Retention: Percent of undergraduate matriculants moving on to medical school % of medical school matriculants who are under-represented minorities≠ Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education 1973 70-75 25.6 Early years: Unknown More recently: 82- 85% 33% Baylor College of Medicine Premedical Honors College 1994 10-15 27* Early years: 63% More recently: 90% 82% University of New Mexico Combined BA/MD Program
2006 28 27 First four years: 69% 55%
* Mean SAT score converted to ACT equivalent
≠ Under-represented minority indicates minority students who are under-represented in
medicine: Hispanic, African American, and Native American Sources:
Roman, 2004 (Sophie Davis) Thomson et al., 2010 (Baylor)
Office of Program Evaluation, Education, and Research (UNM), UNM data are current as of November 2013
References:
Eaglen RH, Arnold L, Girotti JA, Cosgrove EM, Green MM, Kollisch DO, McBeth DL, Penn MA, and Tracy SW. (2012). The scope and variety of combined baccalaureate-MD programs in the United States. Acad Med. Nov;87(11):1600-8.
Roman SA, Jr. (2004). Addressing the urban pipeline challenge for the physician workforce: the Sophie Davis model. Acad Med. Dec;79(12):1175-83.
Thomson WA, Ferry P, King J, Wedig CM, and Villarreal GB. (2010). A baccalaureate-MD program for students from medically underserved communities: 15-year outcomes. Acad Med. Apr;85(4):668-74.
103