LLU School of Medicine Among the Top to Produce Family Doctors

Loma Linda University School of Medicine has another accolade to add to its collection.

The school is among the top in the nation to graduate family physicians, according to the Annals of Family Medicine. This bucks the national trend of medical schools producing fewer students specializing in family medicine, according to LLU.

The two schools with more family medicine physicians are the University of Minnesota and the University of Kansas, with the schools ranked based on the number and percentage of students who entered family medicine over a 10-year period. 

"I am delighted that our students are selecting specialties that are very amenable to practice whole person care," said Dr. Roger Hadley, dean of Loma Linda University School of Medicine. "As more accountability is demanded from health care providers by health care reform, there will be an increasing dependability on family medicine physicians and the other primary specialties to assure the health of community members."

The Annals of Family Medicine reported that between 2001 to 2010 slightly more than nine percent of medical students in U.S. schools focused on family medicine. 

According to Hadley, initiatives, such as programs in rural health family medicine and the combined preventive medicine/family medicine programs, have contributed to Loma Linda University School of Medicine’s ability to increase the number of family medicine specialists.