The Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) at Texas A&M University-Texarkana is making the path to medical school a reality for A&M-Texarkana students.
Dr. Nurul Alam, JAMP faculty director and professor of biology, announced this week that the university has once again been awarded funding for the program from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Created by the Texas Legislature, JAMP is a unique partnership between all nine Texas medical schools and 67 public and private four-year undergraduate institutions in the state. A&M-Texarkana has been a part of the program since 2014.
A total of 100 students are admitted into the statewide JAMP program each year through a rigorous application and selection process.
“A&M-Texarkana has been fortunate to have two students selected for the program,” Dr. Alam said, noting that this number rivals the acceptance rates at many larger institutions in the state.
“We are a small institution, but we’re getting noticed,” he said.
JAMP participant Kaylee Loeza of Diana, Texas, graduated from A&M-Texarkana with honors in 2017 and recently entered medical school at Ross University through the regular competitive process. She started classes on Monday.
Brenda Awuah of Texarkana, Texas, a senior at A&M-Texarkana, is currently enrolled in the JAMP program. She has just taken the MCAT.
JAMP provides financial support through undergraduate scholarships, summer stipends, tutoring, mentoring and computer support. JAMP also supplies funds to maintain the program, travel to JAMP and pre-health adviser meetings, and acquire MCAT prep materials and software for the JAMP resource room.
Current legislation reserves 10 percent of the seats available in each entering medical school class for JAMP students.
As of fall 2016, 307 current medical school students in Texas were JAMP participants. Ninety-seven percent of JAMP medical graduates were matched with residency programs, primarily in internal medicine and family practice.
“The JAMP initiative also benefits our pre-health program at the university,” Dr. Alam said, noting that the resources are available to all students at A&M-Texarkana.
The biology program at A&M-Texarkana has a lot of momentum, Dr. Alam said, noting that he has record numbers of students in his microbiology, molecular biology and biology for non-majors courses this semester.
The application period for the JAMP program is open and the deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Sept. 29.
For inquiries regarding JAMP and the pre-health program at A&M-Texarkana, please contact Dr. Nurul Alam at (903) 334-6671 or Nurul.Alam@tamut.edu.
