Administrators predict that Fort Worth could see an annual economic boost of $4 billion from the freshly accredited medical school at Texas Christian University by 2030.
TCU expects an estimated 31,200 local jobs to be created through the school, which Mike Brennan, president of the nonprofit Near Southside Inc., anticipates will be a boon to the city, according to the Fort Worth Report.
“I think that it’s going to be a huge driver,” Brennan explained. “The medical school is a major ingredient in the mix of assets that the [Near] Southside brings to Fort Worth.”
The TCU Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine, located at 1200 W. Rosedale St., was established in 2019 through a partnership between TCU, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, and the Missouri-based consultancy Tripp Umbach.
It received a $25 million donation from The Burnett Foundation last August, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Last month, the school reached a significant milestone when it was awarded full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. This national accreditation comes as the result of successfully passing a seven-year review of an M.D. program.
By creating a local pipeline for physicians, the Burnett School of Medicine should help alleviate the ongoing shortage of medical personnel that has struck the city as well as the North Texas region.
“We are in a significant physician shortage, and it’s getting worse,” explained Dr. Stuart Flynn, the school’s founding dean, according to the Fort Worth Report.
“With Fort Worth being one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, we need more physicians,” Flynn said.
“We view that as one of our missions to be a significant player in trying to solve something that’s very hard to solve. If everyone just ignores it, it’s certainly not going to get solved,” Flynn added.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, primary care physicians are in especially short supply due to the high demands and poor working conditions typical of the position. If current trends prevail, this shortage might be as high as 55,000 nationwide in the next decade.
In North Texas, a report from the Texas Department of State Health Services predicts a shortage of 4,760 physicians by 2032.
For Dr. Stuart Pickell, president of the Tarrant County Medical Society, the school will not only produce physicians to bolster the city’s growing healthcare needs, but it will also have a “domino effect” on the local economy, according to the Fort Worth Report.
“Health care is an important service, but it’s also big business,” Pickell noted.
