UIW Osteopathic Medical School Wins Mental Health Grant

July 6, 2017

Construction crews are completing the UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine. Classes for the first 162 students begin August 1, 2017.

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is awarding San Antonio’s newest medical school a grant of more than $400,000. The University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine will use the money to tackle mental health issues on the city’s south side.

Physical illness isn’t eliminated with simple clinical intervention. That’s the philosophy of UIW’s new osteopathic medical school, which plans to send its students into the community to work with families in District 3, the south side where the campus is located.

Director of Public Health for the School, Anil Mangla, MS, Ph.D., MPH, FRSPH, said these future doctors will be addressing depression, stress and anxiety as well as blood sugar levels and amputation risk. "And if we can assist patients in getting their mental health in control, that indirectly may also help their chronic health," he added.

Osteopathic doctors embrace a holistic approach to health. Life expectancy in south San Antonio is years less than on the north side of the city.

Read the entire story on Texas Public Radio.