With Arrival of Fourth Class, TCU School of Medicine has First Full Four-Year Student Body

The Class of 2026 begins Introduction to Medicine at the TCU School of Medicine.

By Prescotte Stokes III

Photo Credit: TCU School of Medicine/Glen Ellman

FORT WORTH – Sixty new medical students will arrive at TCU School of Medicine for two weeks of intense preparation that will begin their medical school journey.

“This is our fourth class of future physicians and we will now have a full campus of 240 medical students who have chosen a new approach to medical education as their calling,” said Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., the founding dean of TCU School of Medicine. “These students will have a unique viewpoint of the role that empathetic communication plays in better patient care.”

The TCU School of Medicine will prepare students to be compassionate physicians, excellent caregivers and prepared to meet the challenges of the rapid advances in medicine.

The medical school’s aim is to transform medical education by having a unique curriculum that incorporates communications trainingthroughout the curriculum. Students are paired with patients and physicians from their first day in a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship model. The students also benefit from world-class simulation and technology, using the Microsoft HoloLens and HoloAnatomy® mixed reality learning experience. The students also encouraged to be life-long learners capable of critical inquiry and medical information literacy through their required four-year research project.

“We are training medical students as Empathetic Scholars® who will have a skillset that will be invaluable to future physicians providing patient excellent care and medical innovation,” Dean Flynn said. “Our medical students will become outstanding physicians who will focus on treating their patients with compassion, empathy and respect. That is how we help patients get better health outcomes and improve community health overall.”

The 60 new medical students at the TCU School of Medicine will be the first cohort of students to be welcome onto TCU’s campus and the medical schools’ new temporary space in southwest Fort Worth.

The Class of 2026 will participate in Introduction to Medicine, July 11-22, on both the TCU campus and the TCU School of Medicine campus at the International Plaza in southwest Fort Worth where they will meet faculty and staff and participate in orientation activities.

On Saturday, July 16, the White Coat Celebration will be held at TCU’s Legends Club. On Monday, July 18, the students will be at TCU’s BLUU Ballroom to hear from retired Phoenix police officer Jason Schechterle. As a rookie police officer in 2001, a car crashed into the rear of Jason’s patrol car. Upon impact, Jason’s squad car burst into flames, trapping him inside. He suffered severe burns to over 40 percent of his body which drastically altered his appearance. He will share his story with the public and the incoming medical students.

The two-week event will culminate on Thursday, July 21 when the medical students with begin their Introduction to Service Learning curriculum. The students will meet community partners in southeast Fort Worth to create a mural in the Eastland neighborhood.

Here’s a look at previous Introduction to Medicine Week activities and the White Coat Celebration: