Dr. John H. Krouse, UTRGV’s new dean of the School of Medicine, is a Harvard Medical School graduate who is board certified in otolaryngology and has accumulated a variety of knowledge and experience throughout his career.
Hired in July, Krouse, a former clinical practitioner in laryngology, sees his new position as an amazing opportunity for both him and the Rio Grande Valley community:
“It’s an exciting opportunity,” he said. “There are only about 140 medical schools that grant M.D.s in the country, so it’s a unique opportunity when a new medical school is born. So, it really gives me, as a dean, the opportunity to build clinical and educational research programs from the ground up.”
He also appreciates the enthusiasm that he has been receiving from the Valley going toward the creation of additional medical programs.
With his new administrative position, Krouse plans to eventually have the medical school act dually as a resource for the community in order to improve the quality of health care in the Valley, not only to those who don’t have access to it, but also to those who have not had the ability to find good quality health care for themselves. He seeks to extend these services to UTRGV students and faculty members. Primarily, his goals are to provide excellent clinical and educational resources.
For the current school year, Krouse plans to build an infrastructure, or a leadership group, to accommodate the other new hires to establish a good foundation for expanding the school of medicine. The new hires include a new executive of finance, health attorney and a physician recruiter. His overall goal would be to “grow the clinical enterprise” to provide better quality medical education to students, and to eventually produce more efficient, skillful physicians who will serve to provide a more specialized health care to the community.
The school of medicine has gone through multiple changes over these last few years. Firstly, its budget has been cut significantly for the 2017-2018 academic year. The Texas Legislature has decreased the school’s budget by $7 million over two years, but overall, it has lost $3.5 million of funding each year.
However, Krouse said “the state regents have allowed us to accelerate some of the payments that were guaranteed to us, [which] helped us with some of that.”
To make up the difference, Krouse and the rest of his staff plan to strategically plot their monetary distribution, and cut back slightly by not hiring as many new staff members as they had originally planned. Although the situation does negatively impact the program, Krouse assures the campus community that this will not hinder any progress.
In the future, the school of medicine is expected to expand. Currently, the school admits 55 new students per year, but they would eventually like to admit over 100. Ultimately, the dean seeks to integrate new comprehensive practice plans that will give students access to study alongside physicians in both the Upper and Lower Valley. Although that will take time for the staff and facilities to grow, he assures the campus community that the membership of the medical school will continue to flourish.
