■ The state’s medical schools are seeing growing interest amid the pandemic.

Applications up in Southern Nevada, nationally during pandemic

Nationwide, the number of medical school applicants planning to start their studies in 2021 is up 18 percent compared with last year

It may or may not be the “Fauci effect,” but Southern Nevada’s medical schools are seeing a surge in the number of applications for admission in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent UNLV graduate Santiago Gudiño-rosales, 24, who plans to start medical school in summer 2021, was surprised to hear applicant numbers nationwide have spiked during the pandemic.

While the disease that has circled the globe has strengthened his resolve to become a physician, the medical school application and interview process — already a grueling experience in a normal year — presented bigger obstacles this year.

“For me, it was quite challenging,” Gudiño-rosales noted, saying there were fewer available resources to help with the application process, his initial testing date was postponed and his interviews were conducted online instead of face-to-face.

Gudiño-rosales, who is taking a gap year before starting medical school, has been ac

cepted to five schools thus far, including UNLV and University of Nevada, Reno. He’s waiting to hear back from others before making a decision.

Nationwide, the number of medical school applicants planning to start their studies in 2021 is up 18 percent compared with last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges announced last week.

That’s good news in a nation where there will be an estimated 54,100 to 139,000 shortfall in physicians by 2033, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Nevada ranks 45th nationally for active physicians per 100,000 residents.

Some experts have dubbed the rise in applications the “Fauci effect,” referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has been omnipresent on TV during the pandemic, becoming a household name.

Dr. Neil Haycocks, vice dean for academic affairs and education at UNLV’S School of Medicine, said he is skeptical that Fauci is responsible for the approximately 11 percent increase in applicants this year for its doctor of medicine (MD) program. The school, which will welcome its incoming class in July, enrolls 60 students each year.

‘A noticeable bump’

“It’s a noticeable bump,” said Haycocks of the approximately 2,000 applications received this year by the deadline of Oct. 1, compared to the roughly 1,800 applications seen annually since the first class arrived in 2017.

But is Fauci responsible?

“I don’t think it’s a likely explanation for what we’re seeing,” he said.

Veterinary schools also are seeing increases in applicant numbers this year, he noted. It also typically takes several years for someone to build a competitive application for medical school, he said.

A far more plausible explanation for the uptick, he said, is that many people who were preparing to apply in a year or two decided to move forward as the pandemic disrupted other plans, Haycocks said.

UNLV also had a couple of applicants pull out after thinking about their career choice and getting a better sense of what the delivery of health care entails, he said.

Touro University Nevada in Henderson has so far slightly exceeded the national average of medical schools, with about 3,700 applications this year for its doctor of osteopathic medicine program — up from 3,015 last year. That’s an approximately 22.7 percent increase.

The private university has 180 incoming students per year, with the next group starting in July. Many graduates go into primary care, an area where there’s a pronounced shortage of providers in Nevada.

Touro has many qualified applicants, CEO and Senior Provost Shelley Berkley said.

“We can be very selective of who we choose to come into our program,” she said.

The University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine has nearly matched its applications record of 1,643 in 2019, with 1,635 in hand this year.

UNR Director of Admissions Tamara Martinez-anderson said she agrees that Fauci is an inspiration, but “most of this year’s applicants began preparing for the admissions process long before the pandemic arrived,” she said in a statement.