"I think our school has a pretty innovative curriculum that has allowed us to do try some new types of learning techniques," Fitzpatrick said. "It has required our students to be more adaptable, but on the flip side, it is nice to be part of the cutting edge."
Besides looking to improve name recognition, VCOM is also still paying down its debt associated with the startup costs. The college, which operates as a private, tax-exempt nonprofit, has yet to break out of the red, although it has whittled down its cumulative net deficit from nearly $9.7 million in 2006 to about $8 million last year on total expenses of $18.5 million.
Still, Tooke-Rawlins is focused on changing the medical landscape of the region, and said the school expects to continue to improve on its finances by shaving its deficit to about $2.5 million for 2008.
In 2009, the VCOM officials said, they anticipate the deficit to be cut to between $1.5 million and $1 million.
"We want to develop a mature medical system in Southwest Virginia, and not just in Blacksburg but in Abingdon, Danville, Farmville and throughout the region," Tooke-Rawlins said.
Efforts are already under way to ensure that when its first graduating class finishes residency programs in 2010, many of those doctors will return to Southwest Virginia to practice medicine. The college has plans to survey its inaugural class, which graduated in 2007, this spring as a way to recruit the talent it helped bring back to the region.
As the fourth medical school in Virginia, VCOM was established with a mission to educate community-focused physicians who will provide care to the medically underserved.
During the admissions process, preference is given to those applicants who say they want to return to practice in rural areas, specifically in the Appalachian region.
The school says 64 percent of students are from the Appalachian region, and many have expressed a desire to return to their home communities to practice medicine.
Born and raised in Bluefield, Phillips said she is definitely going to stay in the region or return home to practice medicine.
Similarly Fitzpatrick, who is from Roanoke, said he also wants to stay in the area after he completes all his training.
"People deserve to have good medical care," Phillips said. "It's not just a need for a doctor but a need for a doctor who really connects with the community. I feel like I just know these people. I know the culture they grew up with, I talk like them. I have a country accent."
Medical education could shape region's economy
VCOM's impact goes well beyond the goal to bring physicians to areas where it has been traditionally hard to recruit new doctors.
The college's economic impact offers a glimpse at how medical education programs might alter the economic landscape of Southwest Virginia. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, every dollar spent by a medical school or teaching hospital equates to an additional $1.30 in economic activity.
While VCOM hasn't done a formal economic impact study, the college estimates that from 2002 to 2007 it has infused more than $100 million into the local economy through direct spending on construction, salaries, research, student expenditures and other areas.
And the direct annual impact of VCOM operations for the coming year are estimated to be $39 million, Tooke-Rawlins said.
With the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute in Roanoke seeking to enroll its first class in 2010, and other institutions, such as Radford University, expanding their health sciences programs, Southwest Virginia could see an infusion of health professionals not only changing medical access but also contributing to the local economy.
Radford has recently added new programs in physical therapy and occupational therapy as it continues to expand its college of health sciences.
In Grundy, the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy graduated its first class this summer with 79 percent of graduates finding jobs in central Appalachia, an area in need of more pharmacists.
Politicians, higher education leaders, health care executives and business leaders are among those who have said health education programs could change the region's economy and spearhead economic development.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for VTC last month, Gov. Tim Kaine said health care and education should anchor Southwest Virginia's economic development. At the time, Kaine suggested VTC would lead the way.
While not wanting to take anything away from the future of VTC, Tooke-Rawlins said she believed VCOM was already paving the way.
"We have had very much a regional impact," she said. "And it is only growing because we have to have a certain amount of momentum going in the region before we realize the extent of the economic impact."
She added that once VTC opens, the two medical schools will likely attract different student populations since the focus of both schools is different.
Building partnerships with major players in the region
Like VTC, VCOM has built itself up by fostering partnerships with major players in the region. VCOM has an established relationship with Virginia Tech that includes providing student activities, telecommunications and research partnerships.
Additionally, VCOM has worked with both hospital systems in the region -- Carilion Clinic and HCA Inc. -- and has established a very close relationship with HCA, which owns Montgomery Regional Hospital and Lewis-Gale Medical Center among others.
In October 2004, HCA donated $1.8 million to VCOM to help pay for clinical rotation training programs for third- and fourth-year students.
"We certainly hope in supporting the doctor of osteopathic school that the school will help address the issue of physician shortages, particularly in rural areas," said Nancy May, spokeswoman for HCA Southwest Virginia.
That partnership has already led to some new doctors in the community. Dr. Bhaba Misra, who graduated from VCOM in 2007, is now doing his residency at Montgomery Regional. With family ties to Blacksburg, Misra said he too wants to stay in the area.
He also thinks the school is having a positive impact on the quality of medicine provided to the community.
"I think anytime you have a hospital participating in an education program, you have an improvement in care," Misra said. "Not that it was bad before, but people are much more aware of what they are doing when you have 150 new medical students every year asking 'Why are you doing that?' "
Besides helping to establish a residency program that primarily serves VCOM students, HCA has offered space for a new clinic building where third-year students such as Phillips and Fitzpatrick spend time learning and caring for patients.
The Academic Primary Care Associates clinic is one of 10 rotations third-year students must complete as they get hands-on exposure to various types of medicine.
VCOM is in the process of applying for the clinic to be a federally qualified health center, which would allow it to receive certain federal grants to be a safety net of sorts for the medically underserved.
"It's all part of our underserved care mission," Tooke-Rawlins said. "We are always looking for ways to combine medical education while also providing care to those most in need."
There are areas the dean said must still be addressed as the school continues to grow, including establishing more residency programs for doctors to train after graduation. Although many VCOM graduates may decide to do residency programs throughout the country, Tooke-Rawlins said it is important to also establish programs nearby given the school's goal of increasing the number of doctors in the region.
"I think in a few more years when VCOM physicians return to the community, that's going to make the biggest impact," Fitzpatrick said. "The potential is great, and I think it's something that is just getting started. You'll see a larger effect in the upcoming years and next decade."
-The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA, www.roanoke.com