UTPA and UTB formalize agreement for physician assistant program

EDINBURG - The area's two universities have solidified a long-term partnership that allows them to train medical providers at a time when more healthcare services are needed in the Rio Grande Valley.

On Wednesday, the University of Texas-Pan American and the University of Texas-Brownsville signed an agreement under which UTPA will reserve five slots in its competitive physician assistant program for UTB students who meet admission requirements.

Out of the several hundred applicants who apply to UTPA's program each year, about 40 are selected.

UTPA is the only non-medical school in the state to offer the program.

The universities have been collaborating with each other for years to train healthcare providers for the Valley and are working together to leverage their limited resources to further improve health services in the region, leaders from both institutions said.

"In these trying times ... none of us have the resources to do it by ourselves," said Paul Sale, UTPA's provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Valley legislators have introduced bills in the Texas Legislature calling for a medical school in the area. But even if the school is approved, it could take years to bring it to fruition.

That's why the universities have been expanding their allied health and related programs, including the physician assistant program.

The Valley's shortage of healthcare providers is more severe than the national average, Sale said. Citing U.S. Census Bureau numbers, he said there is only one physician per 1,000 patients here, as opposed to one physician per every 400 patients across the country.

The physician assistant studies program started in 1994 as a cooperative program between the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston and UTPA. At that time the Valley only had about six practicing physician assistants.

Since then, UTPA has graduated about 225 physician assistants, with about 176 of them staying in the Valley, according to the university.

"This is a true success," Sale said.

Selina Orive-Garcia, a Brownsville native who now lives in Edinburg, said she always wanted to work in the medical field and began taking healthcare-related classes in high school. After teaching middle school science for three years, she decided to pursue her original dream and apply to UTPA's program.

Students in the program have to take 18 graduate-level credit hours, complete 50 hours of observing a physician assistant, doctor or other medical professional, and work at local clinics, food banks and other agencies as part of service learning requirements.

Orive-Garcia and other students said they don't have the luxury of eating or sleeping much, but the grueling schedule is worth it.

"I think it's amazing when I get a call from my parents and grandparents and (I can) help them and make sense of what they heard from the doctor," Orive-Garcia said.

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