BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – It takes quite a while to grow a physician. It takes quite a while to grow a physician assistant, too, and quite a while to grow a nurse — but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Today at Bakersfield College, that seed was planted.

Representatives of Dignity Health — that’s Mercy and Memorial hospitals — were on hand at Bakersfield College Monday with the president of an Atlanta medical school to share the details of a partnership that will start training and eventually begin delivering newly minted doctors, nurses and physician assistants.

Kern County Public Health announces free flu shots Sunday

Morehouse School of Medicine has partnered with Common Spirit Health (Dignity’s parent company), the Kern Community College District and the Kern High School District to launch a Health Scholars Pathway — a direct, affordable route for Kern County high school students to pursue medical careers.

The first cohort of 15 students is expected to be announced next spring. They’ll enroll at Bakersfield College next year, complete their AA degrees, then spend years three and four at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. After that, they’ll return to Kern and enter the residency program at Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield. In six years, 15 new medical professionals will enter the local workforce.

BC Interim President Stacy Pfluger and Kern Community College District Chancellor Steven Bloomberg made the announcement with Dr. Veronica Mallett of the More in Common Alliance and Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of Georgia’s Morehouse School of Medicine. She promised to give the local students back to their hometowns.

“When they finish medical school, they’re going to do their residency training here and then they’re going to practice in this community,” Montgomery Rice said. “Return to Kern!”

Mallett said Kern in particular needs medical professionals.

“Nationwide, it is estimated that by 2030, right around the corner, we will have a shortage of about 186,000 physicians,” Mallett said. “And in California, we have a ranking of health physician shortage areas and Kern County is number five on the list.”

Close

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Kern is among the fastest growing, poorest and least healthy regions of California, and the San Joaquin Valley overall has the lowest number of doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners per 100,000 people of any region in California.

An added concern: About 30% of this already stretched workforce is approaching the age of retirement.

Bakersfield is planting this seed not a moment too soon.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.