New Clinical Partnership to Train Medical Students in Fort Bend County

Ibn Sina Foundation, OakBend Medical Center, and Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (SHSU-COM) have announced a new clinical partnership aimed at training medical students and residents in Fort Bend County.

Starting August 2024, the partnership will see Ibn Sina Foundation and OakBend Medical Center team up with SHSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine to train 3rd and 4th-year medical students in the county. Additionally, the collaboration will work on developing new graduate medical education programs focusing on primary care medicine.

Over the past 24 years, Ibn Sina Foundation clinics have been providing preventative and primary health services to over 1.2 million low-income, uninsured, and medically underserved families in Greater Houston. According to Mr. Nasruddin Rupani, Founder and Chairman of the Ibn Sina Foundation, expanding this partnership is crucial to meeting the region’s healthcare needs. “Without more doctors, we will not meet our mission of providing care to every person who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay,” Rupani stated.

OakBend Medical Center, established in 1950 as Polly Ryon Memorial Hospital and renamed in 2004, remains the only independent non-profit hospital in the Greater Houston area. CEO Joe Freudenberg emphasized the hospital’s commitment to providing exceptional healthcare for the community, regardless of ability to pay, and sees the partnership as a long-term commitment to Fort Bend County.

Dean of SHSU-COM, Thomas J. Mohr, highlighted the importance of clinical partnerships in osteopathic medical education, noting that the collaboration with Ibn Sina Foundation and OakBend Medical Center aligns with their mission to expand access to high-quality healthcare for those in need.

Initially considering the creation of a new osteopathic medical school, the Ibn Sina Foundation opted to partner with SHSU-COM to place medical students in Fort Bend County following a year-long investigation. The focus of the partnership is to establish a clinical training region where student doctors can be educated while serving an area in critical need of healthcare workers.

“It’s a win-win scenario for each of our organizations,” Mohr explained. “Our student doctors assigned to the Ibn Sina/OakBend clinical training region will move to Fort Bend County for their final two years of medical school and become embedded in the community. We hope they will set down roots and decide to stay when their training is complete, thus providing a pipeline for future healthcare providers.”