There’s a doctor shortage in Colorado. UNC’s new medical school hopes to address that

Patients in Colorado feel the brunt of a growing healthcare crisis every day. There’s a shortage of primary care doctors and other health care workers in most Colorado counties – and that has an especially big impact on low-income and rural communities.  

That physician shortage is projected to get even worse, with roughly a third of doctors in the state aged 60 or older, and nearing retirement – according to a recent report by the American Association of Medical Colleges.  

To help boost the number of primary care doctors, a new medical school – just the third one in Colorado – is being built at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. UNC officials celebrated the groundbreaking for the new College of Osteopathic Medicine on September 28. The new school has a price tag of around $200 million, and will eventually graduate 150 new doctors each year when it opens in 2026.  

ITN host Erin O’Toole spoke with the founding dean of the new medical school, Dr. Beth Longenecker, back in May when the school was first announced. Today we’re listening back to that conversation.

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.