Southwestern College and Kansas Health Science Center-Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine announce admissions partner
Southwestern College and Kansas Health Science Center-Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine announce admissions
partnership
Winfield, Kan. – Southwestern College and Kansas
Health Science Center-Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KHSC-KansasCOM) have
announced an admissions partnership agreement, with the goal of addressing
Kansas’ physician shortage.
The agreement will allow a select number of Southwestern
students to accelerate their career path with a 3+4 program. Qualified students
who meet KHSC-KansasCOM admission requirements will
have the opportunity to begin their first year of medical school in their
senior year of undergraduate studies at Southwestern. After completing their
first year at KHSC-KansasCOM, they will receive their bachelor’s degree from Southwestern,
thereby completing both undergraduate work and a medical degree in seven years.
Southwestern has a long tradition of producing graduates who
excel in the natural sciences. The college offers focused pre-professional
pathways, including premedical, that boast an outsized placement rate of students
in medical schools.
“The partnership between Southwestern and KHSC-KansasCOM creates an excellent opportunity
for our students and it deepens their connection to south-central Kansas – where
many regional communities are in need of service-minded physicians,” said Liz
Frombgen, Southwestern president.
KansasCOM is the first private, nonprofit
osteopathic medical school in Kansas. Partnerships like this support KHSC-KansasCOM’s
mission to address the severe physician shortage across the state.
“Ninety-two of the 105 counties in Kansas are considered partially
or wholly underserved. This partnership with Southwestern will allow us to help
reverse this trend by getting well-qualifed, Kansas-based students into the
workforce at an expedited pace. It’s a win-win for our students and the health
of all Kansans,” said Tiffany Masson, Psy.D., president of KHSC-KansasCOM.
Well-qualified students at Southwestern who meet admissions
criteria will have the opportunity to transition to KHSC-KansasCOM in pursuit
of their medical degree beginning in the summer of 2024.
