PRESIDENT’S PAGE
The Past and Future
of Dallas Medicine
Twenty-five years ago this month, I
graduated from UT Southwestern
Medical School. Much has changed
in the practice of medicine in
the last quarter of a century, including
electronic health records, HIPAA laws,
tort reform, and telemedicine. The DCMS
has experienced changes, too. We have
been a vital part of the public health
response to Ebola, West Nile, COVID-19,
and hurricanes Harvey, Katrina, and Rita.
We have worked with state leaders to
improve health for all Texans and have
joined with other county medical societies
to form the North Texas Medical Society
Coalition. In addition, our membership
has grown from 5,800 members in 1996
to 8,100 members in 2021! This year,
our interaction with medical students has
also changed. We have added medical
students from Texas A&M and UTSW to
our board committees. Twenty-two medical
students volunteered to participate in
2 DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL • June 2021
DCMS 2021 President
Beth Kassanoff-Piper, MD, FACP
DCMS committees this year, and we hope
for even more engagement next year.
Reading their profiles is like reading a
“Who’s Who” of the future of medicine.
These students are involved in leading a
variety of organizations and are already
working on advocacy and the improvement
of care for the underserved. I believe we
have a lot to learn from them and am
excited for their involvement. I also hope
that their involvement in DCMS and TMA
will strengthen their interest in organized
medicine and in choosing to practice in
Texas.
The graduating class of 2021 will
provide a pool of well-prepared and eager
new doctors. We applaud and congratulate
them on their achievement! Texas needs
more good doctors. Texas recently ranked
41st in the overall state ranking of physicians
per capita, and 47th for primary
care physicians. The specialties of general
internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics,
and psychiatry are projected to have
the most significant shortages in the next
10 years. Studies show that of those physicians
who received their undergraduate
medical education in the state, 59% chose
to practice in Texas. For those who did
both undergraduate and graduate medical
education in Texas, 80% practice here. To
keep our Texas medical school graduates
in Texas, we must maintain a ratio of 1.1
entry-level training positions for each medical
school graduate. With Texas’ growth to
12 allopathic and three osteopathic medical
schools, there will be an additional 270
graduates between 2024 and 2027.
We need more diversity in our doctors
as well. The 2019 Diversity in Medicine
report by the AAMC shows that 52% of
active physicians in the United States are
white, 17% Asian, 6% Hispanic, and 5%
African American. While diversity among
medical students has increased, growth in
the number of African American medical
Dr. Beth Kassanoff-Piper administering the
physician’s oath to the 2021 graduating seniors
at UT Southwestern Medical School in May.