Patrick W. Bankston, Ph.D., serves as assistant dean and director of the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) on the Gary campus of Indiana University Northwest. Students enrolled in the medical school and the College of Health & Human Services also know Bankston as a professor of anatomy and cell biology, and pathology. Get Healthy recently sat down with Dr. Bankston to talk about plans for the expansion of the IU Medical School Northwest and opportunities for obtaining a medical degree in Northwest Indiana.

Q: What does Indiana University School of Medical Northwest offer medical students now?

A: Students enrolled here complete two years of medical school training, then spend two years, called clinical years, in Indianapolis. Usually there are 18 students in each class for those two years. This year, we expanded those classes by six students. Half of the students are assigned here (after admission to the IU School of Medicine) and half choose us.

Q: What will it take to add the third and fourth year of medical school here at IUN?

A: We are asking for $35 million in funds from the legislature to expand the medical school here. There are eight regional centers that are part of the Indiana University Medical School -- Gary, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Muncie, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Evansville and Bloomington. Terre Haute will be the first to expand its medical school to four years, then Gary and South Bend. For the next two summers, we will have a pilot program with two student volunteers to stay here (after completing the first two years of medical school). In the fall of 2010, we will enroll our first third- and fourth-year medical students. Eventually, there will be 84 students who will stay for those final two years of medical school.

Q: What makes the third and fourth years of medical school different than the first two?

A: During the third and fourth years, students go through what are called "rotations" or "clerkships" at hospitals and with doctors in those fields. They see patients in clinical settings. Third-year students are required to do 10 rotations in blocks. The medical block includes internal medicine, neurology and psychology. The surgery block is general surgery and specialty surgeries such as ENT (ear, nose and throat), ophthalmology, neurosurgery, anesthesia and plastic surgery. There is also a block with pediatrics and family practice. Fourth-year students do rotations in emergency medicine, radiology and medical specialties. These rotations are known as internships. They do more hands-on patient care with less supervision. Currently we are recruiting physicians who will work with our students in the area's nine hospitals. Our job is to pick the best physicians who want to and are capable of working with our students in these specialties.

Q: Why is the Calumet Region a good place to receive medical training?

A: We have a lot to offer in Northwest Indiana. There are nine hospitals and four federally funded clinics in this area. Places like Muncie have one hospital. We have opportunities for students to gain experience in urban medicine. We have populations that have difficulties getting good care. We work with mental health facilities so students can get experience in that field.

Q: What opportunities are there for area students to go to medical school here in Northwest Indiana?

A: Of the 18 students who are currently in medical school here for the first-year class, 12 are from the region. There is one academic process for being admitted to medical school. Students are then assigned to a regional medical school campus. Now we're getting the children of doctors from our area. We have a significant number of doctors' kids here in medical and nurses' training. Our family is growing. In addition, some of our medical students are doing their residencies in Chicago and coming back to the area.

Q: We hear a lot about a "teaching hospital" being built in Northwest Indiana. How close are we to accomplishing that? A 'teaching hospital" classically involves doctors doing residencies in specialties such as surgery. Currently we don't have residency programs at any of our hospitals. But when we expand to a four-year medical school program, all the hospitals in the area will be affiliated with us and will enhance our program. As we expand our operations here, we hope to stimulate the hospitals we already have to get residency programs. Each hospital could take one residency program; for example, surgery or family practice. As far as building a separate 'teaching hospital' in our area, it would cost about $400 million. We have academic medical centers in Chicago at such hospitals as Rush and University of Chicago. I think we can enhance the medical care of the region without competing with other hospitals.