The MD program at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine will be expanded by 40% in the next five years to address healthcare workforce demands.
Admissions to the program will increase from 163 to 232, according to a Sept. 13 news release from the Oklahoma City-based university.
The state ranks 48th in active physicians per capita. Half of physicians who graduate from OU practice in the state, the release said.
The university's board of regents also recently approved the creation of the department of emergency medicine and the department of molecular genetics and genome sciences in the College of Medicine.
The department of emergency medicine will allow the university to train emergency room physicians for the first time in over 30 years, the release said.
In addition, for the third consecutive year, the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing has accepted all qualified patients to its baccalaureate nursing program, which has allowed the college to double its number of annual graduates. More than 600 will join the workforce this fall, compared to about 300 in 2021, the release said.