Letter by MOA President Joel Kase in Sun Journal supports Doctors for Maine’s Future Scholarship Program and lauds UNE's primary care model

The Sun Journal (Lewiston) published a letter from Joel Kase, D.O., president of the Maine Osteopathic Association, which  urged the Maine Legislature to to prevent cuts in funding to the Doctors for Maine’s Future Scholarship Program. Gov. Paul LePage's supplemental budget - designed to balance state spending through June 30 - proposed cutting $125,000 that funds the program. 

Kase writes that "over the past three decades, the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine has developed a blueprint for educating and training primary care physicians which has proven highly successful. As the No. 1 provider of physicians for our state, graduates of UNECOM account for greater than 15 percent of the primary care work force and nearly 27 percent of those providing rural medical care. In other words, one of every four physicians in rural Maine is a D.O. who trained here in our state, at Maine’s medical school. Indeed, it is the many citizens in rural and under-served areas who will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this investment in the future of primary care for Maine."

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.