Health & Fitness
UMass Medical Students Graduating Early To Fight Coronavirus
The University of Massachusetts Medical School and other medical schools in Massachusetts are graduating about 700 physicians early.
WORCESTER, MA — The University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester will graduate 135 fourth-year students early this year. It's a move many several Massachusetts medical schools are making to get more doctors into the field amid the coronavirus crisis.
Worcester Medical Director Michael Hirsh, a vice provost at UMass, said the new doctors would've had to wait until the end of May to graduate.
Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University are also allowing medical school students to graduate early to increase the number of doctors available. After graduating, the new physicians will move into residency programs across the state and nation. Across the four schools, about 700 students will graduate early.
"Graduating medical students are ready: let’s get them to work," UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael Collins said in a news release.
The announcements come as the coronavirus situation is worsening. The U.S. on Thursday passed China in having the most number of positive COVID-19 cases. There were over 2,400 in Massachusetts alone, plus 25 deaths.
In Worcester, Hirsh has noted that the number of acute COVID-19 cases — where patients need intensive care — is starting to increase.
