UND’s Role in The Future of Health Education in North Dakota

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(UND Today) – UND President Andy Armacost  and Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, vice president for Health Affairs and dean of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, talked about the role the University of North Dakota has with education in the health sciences and keeping students in the state after they graduate.

Jenkins describes her first year at UND as both energizing and rewarding, emphasizing the warmth and strong sense of community she has experienced across campus and throughout North Dakota. Through extensive travel to rural communities and critical access health centers, she has seen firsthand the pride that alumni, lawmakers and community leaders take in UND’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences. Those conversations, she says, have reinforced the school’s mission to serve the health needs of North Dakotans statewide.

A key focus of the discussion is ND 85, an initiative that emerged from the most recent legislative session. ND 85 aims to increase the percentage of North Dakota students in UND’s medical (MD) and physician assistant (PA) programs to 85 percent. Jenkins explained that while the programs receive many hundreds of applications each year, only a small percentage come from North Dakota residents. ND 85 is designed to change that by creating clearer pathways for students across the state to pursue careers as physicians, physician assistants and in other health professions.

Armacost and Jenkins also discuss the importance of connecting recruitment efforts to long-term workforce needs. Research shows that students from rural areas are more likely to return home to practice, making early outreach essential. Jenkins emphasizes the importance of engaging students not only in high school, but even earlier, to build confidence and awareness of health care career opportunities.