Students interested in practicing medicine in the Mid-South upon completion of medical school have a unique opportunity to develop a relationship with one of the region’s largest hospital systems thanks to a partnership between NYITCOM at Arkansas State (NYITCOM at A-State) and Baptist Memorial Health Care.

The agreement identifies up to 25 NYITCOM at A-State medical student positions that will be dedicated specifically to students who want to train at Baptist Memorial Health Care facilities during medical school.

During their first and second years, NYITCOM at A-State students will have opportunities to participate in clinical and population-based research, as well as physician shadowing and mentoring. Program participants will then undertake their third- and fourth-year clerkships at one of Baptist’s 22 renowned hospitals.

Upon completion of their NYITCOM at A-State medical education, these students will be encouraged to apply to one of Baptist Memorial Health Care’s affiliated residency programs through the National Resident Match Program. Baptist Memorial Health Care currently hosts residents and fellows in family medicine, internal medicine, radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, pathology, and pulmonary medicine.

Within the past three years, Baptist Memorial Health Care has started new primary care residency programs at three of its hospitals—Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, in conjunction with Church Health; Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus, Mississippi; and NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas. These programs offer area students an opportunity to complete their graduate medical education training with physician educators from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

The application to be considered for the Baptist Memorial Health Care/NYITCOM-Arkansas Partnership will be available to students enrolled at NYITCOM-Arkansas in the fall of the student's first year. Visit nyit.edu/admissions for more information.

NYITCOM at A-State’s Mission

Located on the campus of Arkansas State University, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State) is dedicated to improving access to healthcare for underserved and rural populations in the Mississippi Delta region.

The state of Arkansas ranks 46th in the number of active physicians per capita and 39th in the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 people. This gap is expected to widen with the anticipated shortfall of more than 35,000 U.S. primary care physicians by 2025. More than ever, new osteopathic physicians will be needed in Arkansas and in the Delta region.