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Advancing Progress and Possibilities for a Healthier Future

Ochsner LSU
Health Shreveport:

Growing the
Professional Pipeline

A recent Association of American Medical Colleges study estimates a shortage of between 54,000 and 139,000 physicians in the United States by 2032.

Sarah Bertran, a student at Xavier University, received the 2019 LSU Health Shreveport - School of Medicine scholarship.

Including shortfalls in both primary and specialty care, the impact may be even more pronounced in the Gulf South. In addition to other Ochsner education initiatives, LSU Health Shreveport has committed to growing its entering medical school class to 200 students over the next five years.

We’re already seeing progress: in 2019 the school welcomed its largest-ever class of 150 students, an increase of 19% over the prior year. Our partnership is also committed to increasing graduate medical education teaching and training opportunities for medical students and residents, including a Medical Informatics program, joint conferences and an opioid education program for LSU residents and fellows via Ochsner continuing medical education (CME) programs.

Our partnership with LSU, combined with the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School, makes Ochsner the largest educator of physicians in Louisiana.

To ensure that medical school growth includes expanded opportunity, Ochsner has established an annual LSU Health Shreveport - School of Medicine scholarship for a graduating Xavier University student. The scholarship award covers the cost of tuition and fees for the entire four-year program. In 2019 the inaugural recipient was Baton Rouge native Sarah Bertrand, a Xavier University honors graduate in biology.

This partnership is but the most recent initiative in Ochsner’s rich heritage of training the next generation of healthcare providers. Each year, we train about 550 medical students and 300 residents, and over 600 allied health students complete a portion of their clinical training at Ochsner Health. Our partnership with LSU, combined with the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School, makes Ochsner the largest educator of physicians in Louisiana.