$2M gift aims to address Nevada’s shortage of rheumatologists

A major healthcare provider is giving $2 million to the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV to help address Southern Nevada’s shortage of physicians.

At an event on Wednesday, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that its $2 million commitment will establish an endowment to support a medical fellowship in rheumatology, one of the many specialities where there’s a shortage of physicians in the state.

“With this investment, we were looking for a way to ensure that it would pay dividends over time,” said Joy Thomas, president and CEO of government business at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada. “By supporting medical training in Southern Nevada, we are ensuring that those services will be offered here.”

Thomas said the fellowship endowment has been two years in the making.

Thomas was joined at the Wednesday event held at the medical school by UNLV President Chris Heavey; Dr. Alison Netski, interim dean of the medical school; UNLV Health President and CEO Joann Strobbe; and Dr. Kate Martin, senior associate dean for graduate medical education at the medical school.

The permanent endowment will fund one individual for a two-year training program. Fellows will train under existing rheumatologists at the medical school, with the goal for them to stay in the community.

Martin said the commitment is “monumental” for Nevada’s population, saying it is not something “we come by often.”

“It is a way to ensure that we will continue to have a supply of rheumatologists in our community in perpetuity forever,” she said.

Strobbe said Nevada has a severe shortage of rheumatologists, with only 1 for every 125,000 Nevadans.

“That ranks us 49th out of 50,” said Strobbe. “That’s why this is, for me, a very transformational gift.”

According to a news release about the endowment, rheumatology is one of many specialties in Southern Nevada where a lack of physicians often results in patients having to wait months to be seen.

Rheumatologists treat autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, where timely access to specialized care is critical to managing symptoms, prevent complications and improve patients’ quality of life, according to the medical school.

A study published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research found that Nevada is projected to have the nation’s third-lowest rheumatologist workforce adequacy by 2037, at 44.4 percent. That means Nevada is projected to have less than half the rheumatologist workforce needed to meet demand by 2037.

Contact Emerson Drewes at [email protected]. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.