The home for the College of Osteopathic Medicine is steadily making progress towards completion. The roughly 100,000 square foot structure is being built in Conroe. The facility will house academic, research and administration activities for the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The university announced the opening of SHSU Physicians, a medical clinic in close proximity to the construction of the College of Osteopathic Medicine building. The clinic includes seven faculty physicians, according to Today@SAM.

The Texas Department of State Health Services released a projection for supply and demand of primary care physicians in 2017, which featured projections of the landscape in 2030. They found that supply of primary care physicians in East Texas will increase by 151 full time equivalent physicians, while the demand will increase by 179.

“This indicates an ongoing and worsening shortage of primary care physicians in East Texas,” the report stated.

The Texas State University System chancellor Brian McCall has said that SHSU’s first graduating osteopathic class will “dramatically improve access to high-quality health care in rural Texas.”

When applications for the SHSU Osteopathic Medicine school opened in September, SHSU received roughly 2,000 applicants, according to Provost Richard Eglsaer.

“We are extremely confident that we will fill our 75 slots with an excellent slate of students,” Eglsaer said at the recent Board of Regents meeting.

According to Eglsaer, 97% of the applicants are Texas residents, 54% are female and nearly 16% are first generation students. The school has invited approximately 500 candidates for interviews.

According to Today@SAM, the first class of the new college will graduate in 2024.