Bridge to the Future
By Aaron Bracamontes
Becoming a health care professional is a dream of many students in our Borderplex; however, sometimes it can feel like it’s only a fantasy.
In an effort to turn dreams into reality, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso has several pipeline programs to usher promising young area high school students to the university’s four schools.
Third-year Foster School of Medicine student Ryan Floresca said as a student at Maxine Silva Health Magnet High School, he was interested in attending medical school but wasn’t sure if it was a realistic goal. That changed after attending a job fair hosted by the Desert Mountain Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a TTUHSC El Paso pipeline program that collaborates with the Foster School of Medicine, Hunt School of Nursing and Hunt School of Dental Medicine.
“At AHEC we attempt to get students in elementary, middle and high school interested in a health care career,” said Daniel Camacho, M.A., TTUHSC El Paso’s AHEC director. “It’s the mission of all the AHEC’s around the country to recruit students to improve the supply, distribution and quality of the health care workforce.”
The program contributes to TTUHSC El Paso’s mission to create more educational opportunities for Borderplex residents. In addition, because most health care leaders are more likely to practice near where they train at or graduate from, the pipeline program is the first step in reducing the local shortages of dentists, nurses and doctors.
Excited at the prospect of a career in the medical field, Floresca got further involved with AHEC’s undergraduate program, the Collegiate Double T Honor Society, while he attended the University of Texas at El Paso.
“That’s when I really started to receive mentoring on medical school applications and the MCAT,” Floresca said. “The more I got involved with AHEC, the more opportunities they gave me to volunteer and see the impact medical professionals make in our community. That really influenced me and set my heart on going to medical school.”
TTUHSC El Paso pipeline programs inspire high school students to pursue medical careers
AHEC isn’t the only avenue into TTUHSC El Paso.
The Hunt School of Nursing has multiple partnerships with area high schools that promote a career in nursing. Magnet programs at Bel Air, Franklin, Maxine Silva Health Magnet, Socorro and Canutillo high schools give students the opportunity to enroll in an early admission program that puts them on the fast track to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.). Through this program, students can graduate from the Hunt School of Nursing just 16 months after high school graduation.
The Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has a pipeline program for seniors at the Silva Health Magnet High School. Participating students observe and work in the graduate school’s first-class research and biomedical sciences laboratories.
“The goal is to expose these students to something they would normally have to wait several years for,” said Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy, Ph.D. “This is a hands-on experience that will give them an advantage for a future career or path in research. Few students their age have this type of opportunity as they enter college and apply for competitive internships.”
The graduate school pipeline program comes at a vital time, as there is a need for more diversity in biomedical science education and careers. According to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, there are about 143,000 people employed as "medical scientists” in the country. Among them, 58.2% were white, 33.8% were Asian, 7.9% were Hispanic, and 5.1% were African American.
“When you’re a high schooler, you don’t really see the big picture,” Floresca said. “So these programs help students like me see the path to success.”
Seniors from Silva Health Magnet High School listen to instruction in the Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences lab.
