The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) at the UNT Health Science Center has received the highest ranking of eight Texas medical schools named in "The Social Mission of Medical Education" list published by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

TCOM ranked 55^th out of the 141 schools mentioned in the study, which focused on defining the social mission of U.S. medical education. The goal was to develop a metric called the social mission score to evaluate medical school output in three areas: an adequate number of primary care physicians, adequate distribution of physicians to underserved areas and a sufficient number of minority physicians in the workforce.

The study's underlying concern was that the nation needs a larger supply of primary-care doctors to handle 35 million Americans who will gain insurance coverage through an overhaul recently approved by Congress.

The study tracked 60,043 doctors who graduated from U.S. medical schools between 1999 and 2001. It noted the doctors' races and traced their choices of medical specialties, as well as where they ended up going into practice.

An article in the Dallas Morning News noted the study and TCOM's rank. Quoted in the article, UNTHSC President Scott Ransom, DO, MBA, MPH, said he was "delighted" at the school's ranking, which is consistent with our 19^th primary-care ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

"The UNT Health Science Center has a unique focus in Primary Care education, research, and clinical practice, which we believe is the reason for these outstanding rankings," he said.

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