HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- On Friday morning, Horseheads Central School District announced a new collaborative program with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). The partnership will provide a pathway for high school students with admission to LECOM’s Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program.

The two agencies say the initiative will help students reserve an early seat with LECOM and receive other useful perks along their academic journeys into the medical field.

According to Dr. Richard Terry from LECOM, there is a nationwide projected shortage of nearly 100,000 physicians, across a variety of specialties, over the next five years.

As a way to help lessen the impacts of health care access for patients, LECOM's Early Acceptance Program (EAP) is partnering with Horseheads CSD to open doors for high school students.

"Qualified Horseheads students will be able to gain early access to interviews with LECOM, leading to potentially a provisional acceptance into their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program," said Dr. Thomas Douglas, the superintendent of Horseheads CSD. "As well as this also opens up avenues to other LECOM programs such as dentistry and the likes."

Two current LECOM first-year medical students came to speak at today's announcement to emphasize the opportunity for prospective medical students. One of the students, Madeson Rogan, graduated from Horseheads High School in 2019 and says she wishes she had the chance to take advantage of the program and work towards her goal right from high school.

"I was more of a traditional student," said Rogan. "I was not part of the EAP program. However, looking back, had I had that opportunity, I definitely would have gone for it. I think it would have saved me a lot of hoops to jump through."

The non-binding program will include three phases:

  1. High school students will need to go through an interview process and meet initial eligibility requirements.
  2. Students will then need to complete undergraduate requirements at a LECOM-affiliated institution.
  3. Students will transition into LECOM for medical training and clinical education.

"Our aim is one, and it's really quite simple it's to inspire local students from this region, where we live, where we get our health care, to choose LECOM," said Dr. Richard R. Terry, D.O., and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at LECOM. "LECOM at Elmira, for their medical education, continue their training here in one of our outstanding health care systems and then come back and ultimately serve this community as a physician."

Representatives from Horseheads High School encourage interested students to visit their school counselors to learn more about the program.

As the partnership is still developing, additional information can also be found on LECOM's Early Acceptance Program website.