Family medicine, considered the oldest and broadest subspecialty of medicine, plays a critical role in maintaining community health and access to care. In fact, 90 percent of primary care doctors are family physicians, providing care of a wide range of ailments and conditions from newborns to seniors.

Eric Coris, MD

Eric Coris, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, said that family physicians significantly enhance overall health outcomes, particularly for patients from underserved populations.

Aspiring doctors echo this sentiment. Kirtan Patel, a fourth year Morsani College of Medicine student, emphasizes his commitment to the community: “Free clinic work is crucial. It provides a place for the underinsured and uninsured in the community to receive medical care.”

However, the United States – and especially a state like Florida — faces a severe shortage of primary care doctors, posing a serious healthcare challenge. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the country will need an additional 55,000 primary care physicians over the next 10 years to keep up with demand.

To counteract this shortage, USF Health and Tampa General Hospital are joining forces to offer a Family Medicine residency position starting in July 2025. Dr. Coris underlined the necessity of these residency programs, saying, “These programs play a pivotal role in strengthening the health care infrastructure, nurturing a new generation of physicians and facilitating enhanced patient care.”

Patel added, “Family Medicine is the specialty geared toward primary care and preventative care.”

Kirtan Patel studies recently at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in downtown Tampa.

Family medicine training includes care for pediatric patients, adults, and pregnant women. The field often attracts medical students and residents passionate about serving their communities, which is key in addressing healthcare disparities and enhancing community health.

“Making a difference in the community is a powerful feeling,” Patel said. “The more family medicine physicians we can train and graduate, the better for any community as a whole.”

The goal remains clear: cultivate family medicine physicians through effective residency programs, enhancing access to care and reducing healthcare disparities.

The family medicine residency program will be a key addition to the nation’s fastest-rising medical school in primary care over the past decade, as recognized by U.S. News & World Report Academic Insights.

Nurse practitioners play a critical role in health care. Their life-changing work and service make a tremendous contribution to patient outcomes.

That impact is seen at USF College of Nursing and its faculty and student nurse practitioners. They continue to transform the profession in various ways, including their community involvement in Tampa Bay and beyond.

Faculty and master’s and doctor of nursing practice (DNP) students recently volunteered at the Remote Area Medical (RAM), a free and remote clinic in Bradenton. They provided primary care services to uninsured patients from medically underserved communities.

USF Health faculty and student nurse practitioners provided primary care services to uninsured patients from medically underserved communities at a remote clinic in Manatee County.

“Our team provided free care to hundreds of patients with health needs including physical checkups, flu, blood pressure, women’s health, prescriptions refills and other health issues,” said Cheryl Wilson, DNP, assistant professor and director for adult/gerontology concentration at USF Nursing. “Through this clinic, we were able to provide more than $400,000 worth of care to patients in this community, so the impact has been tremendous.”

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Push for excellence in research and education leads to 16 position rise since last year

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine has upped its game in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Medical Schools rankings released March 16.  Medicine was among six professional school programs included in the U.S. News 2017 Best Graduate Schools rankings.

Fueled in part by increases in National Institutes of Health funding and average Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores, the University of South Florida’s medical school ranked #63 among the best medical schools for research – a significant rise from last year’s #79 ranking.  In the best medical schools for primary care ranking, USF jumped to #67 — up from #85 last year.

Over the last two years, under the leadership of Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, USF Health has intently focused on driving for excellence in its academic missions – including aggressively pursuing more National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and raising the bar on scholarly achievements for students and faculty.

The factors U.S. News weighs in ranking best medical schools for research include the amount of funding that faculty receive from NIH and a school’s selectivity in admitting students.  The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research annual tabulations, considered a gold standard in research metrics for medical schools, recently ranked Morsani College of Medicine #48 among 139 medical schools with NIH funding in 2015, up from #88 in 2013 and #63 in 2014.  Applications have increased 40 percent in the last two years to more than 6,200, and entering student MCAT scores were the highest in the state.

“Our climb in the national rankings shows that the relentless pursuit of academic excellence has begun to yield solid successes in enhancing the quality of our research and in attracting the best and brightest students,” Dr. Lockwood said. “We still have much to do to maintain and advance these gains, but I’m confident that the momentum will be sustained as we work toward opening our new Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute in a thriving downtown waterfront district, close to our primary teaching hospital, Tampa General, and the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.”

U.S. News surveyed 170 fully accredited medical schools and osteopathic schools of medicine for its 2017 Best Graduate Schools edition; 114 of these schools provided the data needed to calculate the rankings.

As part of the 2017 rankings, for the first time, U.S. News ranked Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs, which are rapidly growing to prepare nurses for the highest level of clinical practice.  The USF College of Nursing DNP program (#54) was in the 50th percentile of 149 nursing schools ranked.  This newest ranking was based upon surveys of nursing school deans and deans of graduate studies asked to rate the quality of accredited DNP programs, student selectivity and program size, faculty resources, and research activity.