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Rural Roads to Better Health

The College of Medicine’s Rural Medicine Program is creating a health care talent pipeline for Texas’ rural communities.

By Dorian Martin '06

Kevin Windecker ’22 was struggling with whether he was on the right career path as a medical student when he learned about the Texas A&M University College of Medicine’s new Rural Medicine Program. Without hesitation, the Garden Ridge, Texas, native—who loves spending time on his family’s rural Hill Country ranch—seized the opportunity.

After six weeks of rotations in Beeville, Mason and Brenham, Windecker knew he’d found his fit. “I found that I had a passion for rural medicine,” he said, adding that he enjoys the challenges it offers. “Doctors in rural environments often have scarce resources, and specialists aren’t always around. If you’re a family doctor in an urban environment, you do a lot more referring, but if you’re a doctor in the country, you only refer if you have to. That makes it more challenging.”
 

They all returned wanting to work in rural communities.
- Curtis Donaldson ’81, Director for Rural Medicine Outreach

Having limited health care options locally creates a ripple effect on the economic viability of rural communities. “If you’re going to convince a major company to move to your area, company leaders will want to have a good health care system that can take care of their employees and their families,” said Atascosa County Judge Weldon Cude. 

Recognizing the state and national need, the College of Medicine launched its Rural Medicine Program in 2021 to create a rural health care pipeline. The program started by sending four medical students to rotations in Beeville and Mason. “They all returned wanting to work in rural communities,” said Director for Rural Medicine Outreach Curtis Donaldson ’81. “They liked the intimacy they had with patients, the pace of the work and the opportunity to have a strong work-life balance.”

Across the United States, rural communities are struggling with identifying, recruiting and retaining young health care professionals like Windecker. These communities currently represent about two-thirds of the nation’s primary care health professional shortage areas. The problem is further amplified by the closure of approximately 140 rural hospitals and health systems between 2010 and 2021. Additionally, over 40% of rural hospitals are operating with negative profit margins, resulting in cutbacks to services such as obstetric units.
 

The Rural Medicine Program is giving Aggie medical students exposure to practicing physicians in rural areas through partnerships with 33 Texas counties.

The innovative program has since expanded to 33 rural Texas counties with plans to provide similar opportunities to nursing, pharmacy and veterinary medicine students.

The school’s future Aggie physicians appreciate the breadth of experiences these rotations offer. For example, Chloe Todd ’21 ’25 completed six weeks of rotations that took her to Beeville, Brady, Junction, Llano, Mason, Menard and San Saba. In addition to interacting with community members, she developed a more holistic view of rural health care, which includes a physical therapist, dentist, air evacuation team and the health care clinic’s business office as integral teammates.
 

“We are committed to cultivating a new generation of empathetic healers who understand the needs of rural communities and are dedicated to bridging the health care gap across Texas.
- Dr. Amy Waer ’23, Dean of the College of Medicine

Similarly, the Rural Medicine Program is working with rural school districts to grow their own future health care professionals by inviting Aggie medical students to be classroom guest speakers, participate in college and career days, and organize virtual presentations. “Statistics show that most rural doctors who stay in rural areas are from rural areas,” said Mason ISD Career and Technology Director Angie Dudney. “A big focus of this program is creating a pipeline that helps students think about medicine earlier, identify their passion earlier, and prepare them in hopes that they’ll come back and practice in a rural area.”

The program already has its first success story: Windecker has signed a contract to join Frontera Healthcare Network after completing his residency in 2026. He’ll be working alongside Dr. Monte Horne, a family practice physician in the network’s Mason clinic. “To have an institution like Texas A&M put together this great program so students like Kevin get exposure to rural medicine and the warmth of people in our little town is just tremendous,” Horne said. “There are so many opportunities in communities like ours that bring a lot of joy, are a lot of fun and can make a difference in people’s lives.”

Learn more about the program’s need and impact:

Miles and Miles of Texas

33 counties are program partners: Atascosa, Bee, Bosque, Brooks, Brown, Burleson, DeWitt, Erath, Frio, Garza, Gillespie, Grimes, Hamilton, Haskell, Hopkins, Jim Wells, Kimble, Kleberg, Lavaca, Llano, Martin, Mason, McCulloch, Medina, Menard, Palo Pinto, Presidio, Real, San Saba, Uvalde, Washington, Wharton and Wilbarger.

The Rural Gap

3 million Texans live in rural areas; 63 out of 254 counties are without a hospital.

Filling a Need

The majority of Texas’ rural hospitals are located in one of the state’s 139 federally designated health professional shortage areas and 111 medically underserved areas. Compared with their urban counterparts, rural hospitals serve a larger proportion of older, uninsured and publicly insured patients.

Healing Texas

28 Aggies have participated in rural rotations since 2021. Three of those students have graduated, are completing their first year of a three-year residency, and plan to work in rural medicine. “These three Aggie doctors are just the initial wave from our growing professional pipeline that is dedicated to serving the long-term medical needs of rural Texas,” said Curtis Donaldson ’81, director for rural medicine outreach in the College of Medicine.


Expand the Rural Medicine Program’s reach across Texas by contributing funds toward county rotations, mini med-camps for high school students or student scholarships. Contact David Boggan ’79 below to learn more.

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Contact

  • David Boggan '79

  • Senior Director of Development
  • Texas A&M Health
  • Call: 979.436.0811

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Support the future of health care across rural Texas with a gift to the College of Medicine's Rural Health Fund.

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