New rural residency program in Permian Basin

A new residency program focusing on rural medicine has been established by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at the Permian Basin Department of Family and Community Medicine. The Permian Basin campus will be the only one in the TTUHSC system to offer rural medicine training to residents.

The first two residents of the program began their training this July at the Odessa campus. They will complete the last two years of the rural medicine residency track in either Fort Stockton or Alpine.

“Training physicians in a rural setting will better prepare them for the unique events and circumstances of patients without access to major medical centers,” said Timothy Benton, M.D., in a recent press release. Benton is the chair for the Family and Community Medicine Department at TTUHSCPB. He also thinks that this introduction to rural medicine may encourage residents to stay in the West Texas area to practice long term.