SWCC-BCE Facility Based Academic Programs

Teaching

TTUHSC Lubbock campus provides clinical rotations for third year medical students of Texas Tech Medical School. The goal is to train well-rounded doctors with adequate knowledge of subspecialties. The objective of breast rotation is not to make specialists out of these young trainees. The objective is to focus on baseline knowledge and assessment that we expect from primary care physicians who are the first line of care for these patients. In addition, we provide training in breast health to rotating residents enrolled in surgery programs. The SWCC-BCE offers an interdisciplinary breast fellowship program. This subspecialty training program focuses on individualized evidence-based patient care training and on mentoring junior trainees. This program is accredited by the Society of Surgical Oncology, which is a national accrediting body that requires a comprehensive list of objectives across several disciplines to be met.

Research

The research program at SWCC-BCE is multidirectional. Both centers have a prospective database for tracking all patients treated, focusing on all NQF measures pertaining to breast cancer treatment. These measures are reviewed by the breast program leadership every six months and provide an excellent tool for clinical outcomes research. There is a full-time data manager committed to maintaining quality of this tool, providing quality assurance measures, and generating reports. TTUHSC also provides support for local and national grants for specific projects via the Clinical Research Institute at Lubbock. The centers also partner with the TTU faculty for advancement of translational research. Trainees at all levels have access to participate in these research endeavors with faculty assistance. In addition, the UMC Clinical Research Department of the SWCC is pivotal in affording the patients an opportunity to participate in cooperative group and industry trials. 

In addition, several retrospective studies are performed by third year medical students, residents, and fellows under mentorship of faculty members.