Sylvia Trent-Adams, President, The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth

In an interview with Invest:, President Sylvia Trent-Adams of The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth shared insights into the launch of its new College of Nursing and the state’s first FlexPharmD program. She also highlighted efforts to strengthen partnerships across the UNT System, focusing on aligning HSC’s programs with the evolving needs of the healthcare industry.

What were the significant accomplishments from this past year at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth?

During the past year, we’ve been extremely busy. One of our most significant achievements was the launch of our College of Nursing. This innovative program welcomed its first class in fall 2024 with students starting the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) in Nursing Practice Innovation. It’s a unique program that provides nurses exposure to multiple areas within health care, including research, clinical practice, business and entrepreneurship, areas they might not encounter in other programs. We completed the accreditation process, hired a highly competent faculty and staff, and renovated new spaces, all in record time.

Additionally, in spring 2025, we plan to welcome our first cohorts for the Registered Nursing to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) and traditional BSN programs. We’ve also been building partnerships across the UNT System, including with UNT Dallas. We’re developing a pre-nursing program there as part of its new STEM building, set to open in fall 2025. This program aims to create a pipeline for health professional education across the North Texas region, partnering with high schools, middle schools and community colleges to feed into HSC.

Another major accomplishment is the launch of our FlexPharmD program, which is the first of its kind in the state. This hybrid pharmacy program, available at the Frisco campus and in partnership with us in Fort Worth, combines online coursework with clinical rotations. The program is a response to the shift toward online education during COVID-19 and allows us to attract more students and provide more health care providers to the community.

Our Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine also had a great year. It was once again recognized as one of the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, particularly for producing primary care providers. It also continues to excel in residency placement for our students.

Finally, we’ve been focusing on our values as an organization. In 2022, we started implementing a values-based journey across the entire UNT System, initiated under the leadership of Dr. Michael Williams, our former president and now chancellor of the UNT System. This has been a game changer, helping us to stand out in higher education and ensuring that our values are embedded in everything we do, from academics and research to clinical care and community engagement.

What trends are you seeing in higher education, and how do you plan to adapt your programs to meet these changes?

We’re observing several trends in higher education that require us to adapt our approach. One significant trend is the growing demand for high-quality online education that meets students’ needs in new ways. We’re also seeing more students pursuing second or even third careers in the clinical space, which creates a diverse, multi-generational academic environment. To support this, we must offer flexible learning modalities and maintain a strong focus on return on investment. Health professional education is expensive, so we need to ensure our programs are accessible, high-quality and aligned with students’ career goals.

A critical issue is preparing students for the business aspects of health care. More than half of physicians surveyed at the end of their residencies felt unprepared for clinical practice, largely due to a lack of business training. Health care is a business, and our graduates need to understand reimbursement, staff hiring and contract negotiation. We’re working to incorporate business, leadership and communication skills into our programs, alongside clinical training, to produce well-rounded professionals.

Higher education is becoming more competitive and expensive. As leaders, we must ensure students receive value for their investment. If we fail to do this, we’ll see more institutions closing. Already, thousands have gone out of business, and many more are operating at a loss. This has significant implications, especially in small towns where higher education is a key driver of economic mobility.

We recognize the importance of building partnerships and engaging with the community to meet these challenges. Education is costly, and we don’t want our students to graduate with unmanageable debt. Our goal is to provide them with the tools to achieve their dreams, from buying a home to securing their future.

How are you ensuring your programs stay relevant to industry needs, and what partnerships have you established to enhance your offerings?

We’ve been evaluating our existing partnerships to assess their health and determine if any need re-engagement or expansion. For example, in discussions with leadership at a local hospital, we realized they were seeking a research partner, an area where we can provide significant value. This led to renewed collaboration.

We’re also looking at emerging areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning, where we have National Institutes of Health-funded grants. We’re exploring new partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, large health care providers and academic institutions such as community colleges and trade schools. These partnerships could help us build pipelines or even share faculty, reducing costs for both parties while serving the community more effectively.

Since many of us, UNT, Texas A&M, Tarrant County College and others, are publicly funded, collaboration is key to reducing costs for students and institutions. For instance, we share courses with hospitals, offer micro-credentials and partner on research grant applications. We also provide free continuing education for clinicians at public hospitals, which reduces their costs and introduces us to potential future students. This creates a win-win situation for all involved.

HSC emphasizes a team-based health care model. How is this approach being integrated across new disciplines like nursing, and what impact do you expect from it?

We’ve embraced a whole health model, which serves as the foundation for our interprofessional education program. We’re expanding this model into both the preclinical and post-clinical phases of our students’ education. With nursing now part of our offerings, we can enhance interprofessional training by incorporating various disciplines into our state-of-the-art Regional Simulation Center. This center is crucial for bringing together students from different healthcare fields, like nursing, EMTs and others, to train as cohesive teams.

One area we’re focusing on is providing real-time feedback to students, especially as we bring nursing into the mix. This will allow us to continuously improve our technology, training and curriculum. Our goal is to create new models of care that can transform the health care delivery system. Our mission at the Health Science Center is to transform lives in order to improve the lives of others, and this principle drives everything we do, from academics to research and community engagement.

Health care is highly fragmented, and if our team of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, physician assistants and basic scientists aren’t collectively working to create better outcomes for our community, we’re not fulfilling our purpose. While this process is ongoing and not perfect, it’s a start. We hope that by training our students in a collaborative, interprofessional environment, while also teaching them leadership and business skills, we can empower them to be change agents who will shape the future of healthcare.

This is especially important as our population becomes increasingly diverse. As the saying goes, “As goes Texas, so goes the nation.” Fort Worth, in many ways, is a blueprint for the country’s future. By 2030, our nation and cities will look different, and we must prepare our health care providers and scientists to operate in an ethical, inclusive and community-minded way. We believe our values-based training model helps instill these principles in our students, faculty and staff, ensuring they are ready to meet the needs of a diverse and evolving population.

What is your outlook for the future of the healthcare industry?

The future of health care will increasingly leverage technology in ways we haven’t seen before. I anticipate a shift toward more personalized precision care, using advancements in technology and science. We’re already seeing new models of care emerging, such as hospital-at-home programs and community-based interventions. Public health will likely play a critical role in addressing long-standing health disparities and access issues.

In terms of the healthcare workforce, I expect it to become more diverse and digitally engaged. As Generation X and millennials, who are digital natives, move into leadership roles, they’ll bring innovative tools and resources into health care. This shift will heavily influence how we at HSC, and in higher education overall, respond to the evolving needs of the industry. We aim to stay at the forefront of these changes by continuing to integrate technology and community-focused care into our programs, preparing our students to lead in this dynamic landscape.