The RAHC Medical Education and Medical Research Division are operated as "geographically separated campuses" of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio School of Medicine. The Regional Dean will oversee both divisions and will report to the Dean of the School of Medicine. The UT Health Science Center San Antonio Medical School will have the overall academic oversight of the medical education and research programs. The respective department Chairs of the Medical School, in conjunction with the Regional Dean, are responsible for the educational director of the student clerkship and residency specialty training programs. This arrangement involving the Medical School and its academic departments in the oversight of the RAHC is required to meet the standards of the national organization that accredit medical schools.
Regional Dean, Dr. Leonel Vela, started in March 2000, and is located at the Harlingen RAHC facility.
VBMC is the principal inpatient-training hospital, and the principal outpatient-training clinic is Su Clinica Familiar. Other training sites include Harlingen OB/GYN Associates, Harlingen Pediatrics Associates, Valley Diagnostic Clinic, and various medical offices and clinics. A new Su Clinica Familiar multi-specialty clinic was completed in 2002. This clinic is in close proximity to the RAHC and includes examination rooms and offices for RAHC students and faculty.
Students are already doing clinical rotations in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Family Practice at these various sites. Rotations in Obstetrics/Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) began in the summer of 2000. Generally students report very positive experiences concerning their rotation in Harlingen. The Internal Medicine Residency Program at VBMC completed its first year and achieved a 100% match for its second class.
Plans are proceeding to develop a Pediatrics Residency Program and a General Surgery Residency Program. The goal is to have four primary care residencies established within five years and to have four fully accredited residencies within 10 years. VBMC already has an accredited residency program in Family Practice. Very prescriptive guidelines for accreditation require specific student and resident clinical experiences, including a core number of teaching faculty with specific credentials. The LCME requires the educational experience of medical students at the RAHC campus to be of comparable quality to that at the San Antonio campus. The LCME was provided formal notification in April 1999 that the UT Health Science Center San Antonio intended to develop a geographically separate medical education campus.
The UT Health Science Center San Antonio has developed a "community-based" education model for the RAHC. This means that faculty is comprised primarily of currently practicing physicians from the Valley community. Faculty are designated as volunteer, part-time or full-time faculty through UT Health Science Center San Antonio's respective departments. Several physicians from the Valley have received faculty appointments, and the appointing Medical School departments are processing other physicians' faculty applications. Program directors in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics, Surgery, and Psychiatry have been appointed for the RAHC. Initially, the primary role of the program directors will be to prepare their respective residency programs for accreditation by the Accreditation council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) - the organization that accredits residency training programs.
Training of medical students and residents will take advantage of the unique health problems en counted in the Valley and the U.S./Mexico border region. This includes opportunities for development of bi national education and training programs. There are opportunities for collaboration between the Medical Education and Medical Research Divisions and the Public Health Division of the RAHC.