Message from Dr. Maria Crompton

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to explore our site, and for your interest in Rural Medicine! The state of Texas has a critical need for physicians in rural and underserved areas.  Our vision is to Be a leader for innovative training in Rural Medical Education and our mission– Educate future physicians to create healthier rural communities.

Through our Rural Osteopathic Medical Education of Texas (ROME) programs, we offer in-depth experiential learning to prepare future physicians for medical practice in rural settings.  To us, the Osteopathic philosophy is analogous to rural life- emphasizing family, home, and a whole-person approach to health.  We teach our students that rural physicians offer great value to their communities within and outside their clinic walls.  Our curricula emphasize the importance of understanding the perspective of rural residents and including their voices in the development of patient-centered solutions to improve health outcomes.

ROME alumni can be found just about anywhere! From military installations foreign and domestic to residency program faculty at Johns Hopkins and Yale, to small rural Texas towns where they volunteer as the team doctor and walk right alongside their patients through life.   We are proud to have our alumni make up most of our rural adjunct faculty for 3rd and 4th year clerkships.  Thanks to them and the generosity of our additional rural preceptors, we have a network of teaching sites providing students with ‘front line’ training and experience.  We are humbled by the trust that communities place in our graduates, and how warmly they all embrace our learners.

Being part of this innovative opportunity is competitive and yet richly rewarding. While solid academic performance is expected, we look for the student who is called to service, who seeks diverse days and starlit nights, whose eye is on the patient-not the clock, and whose happiness is measured in relationships not wealth.  With the current emphasis in Medical Education on competency-based assessment and Entrustable Professional Activities, we expect our students to achieve not only the expected core competencies of the TCOM curriculum but also to enter highly competitive residencies with attitudes, competencies, and skills superior to their peers.

We are pleased to be an integral part of educating high caliber physicians to help build a strong infrastructure for accessible and equitable healthcare in rural Texas.  I and the ROME faculty and staff are available to answer any questions or provide further information about our programs and our passion for rural medicine. Please do not hesitate to contact us!

Maria Crompton DO, DipABLM | Assistant Professor
Director, Rural Medical Education
Department of Family Medicine and OMM
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine