Mission
Preparing the Osteopathic Graduate for practice in a changing rural environment in the 21st century.

Part of the University of North Texas Health Science Center's mission is to meet the needs of rural and underserved populations. One strategy used to accomplish this is to offer medical students a unique educational experience in rural medicine. Since 1996 the Rural Family Medicine Track has provided interested medical students with the experience of family medicine as it is practiced in a rural setting.

Today this strategy has expanded. In the fall of 2006, the Division of Rural Medicine began offering a new parallel curriculum. This curriculum has added key issues pertinent to the practice of medicine in a rural environment that are often not offered in the standard medical school curriculum. Not only do students develop their clinical competence by participating in patient care, but they become actively involved in community-based activities; learn about the role a physician plays in the community; and experience the unique qualities of a rural lifestyle.