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Janessa Nason of Millinocket, and all 36 members of the class of 2013, got a stethoscope from the Maine Medical Center-Tufts University School of Medicine Medical School Program.

enlarge Photos by Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

New medical student Bob Parisien, right, smiles as his mother, Carol, a registered nurse at Maine Medical Center, tries on his new stethoscope at a Dana Center reception for the first class of a new Tufts University Medical School program.

PORTLAND — A groundbreaking medical school program that could provide rural areas of Maine with more doctors inducted its first class Monday afternoon at Maine Medical Center.

Maine Med and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston are teaming up to fight statewide doctor shortages by offering all Maine-based students half-tuition scholarships.

Currently, there are more than 230 physician vacancies in Maine. By targeting Mainers for the in-state medical school program, Maine hopes to retain 75 percent of students as doctors after graduation.

"Having family in the state and knowing how badly we're needed makes it an easy decision to come back to the state," said Janessa Nason, a student from Millinocket. "I'm looking forward to it because I'll be closer to home."

Tufts is one of the leading medical schools in the country, and with its new partnership, will offer students the rural experience of Maine as well as the metropolitan experience of Boston, emphasizing the doctor-patient relationship aspect, said Bob Parisien, a student from Biddeford.

Students will spend their first two years taking classes at Tufts, then they'll come to Maine for the final two years with rotations at Maine Medical Center or other hospitals.

"To grow up in Maine, no matter where you grew up or how big your city or town is, it's impossible to grow up without a sense of community," Parisien said.

After battling sports-related injuries through high school, Parisien spent a lot of time in hospitals, forging relationships with medical professionals, which encouraged him to follow that career path.

When the students come to Maine, they will receive patient contact immediately, traveling around the state within the first two weeks to meet doctors in rural locations.

"I think that's really important, because obviously you could be the smartest person in the world and not be a good doctor and not be able to interact with people," Nason said. "So that to me is going to be awesome."

Doctor shortages have led to serious health problems for many Maine citizens, said Peter Bates, chief medical officer at Maine Med.

"People don't get the regular care they need and then they show up in an emergency or life-threatening situation, and yes, they get care, but I think many of those situations could be prevented if we had more physicians and nurses and others," he said. "We need those communities to provide more access to routine care."

The new program will target that problem, placing students at some two dozen rural hospitals in places such as Sanford, Houlton, Farmington and Ellsworth.

The student influx will give Maine hospitals more flexibility and also will motivate current doctors, Bates said.

"There's a sense of transparency when students are around," he said. "Students ask awkward questions, and when they ask awkward questions, people look for the answers."

Bates said he hopes the program will also draw other "high-quality physicians" who want to practice at a teaching hospital.

Previously, Maine offered few options for students interested in medicine, forcing natives to go out of state for medical school. The only medical school in Maine is at the University of New England, which offers an osteopathic degree at its Biddeford campus.

"If you train in New York City, even if you thought you always wanted to go to Maine, it's pretty tough to respond to an ad and go live in a rural community when you've never done that before," Bates said. "So I think for students to be educated in a rural community makes it much more likely they will return there to practice."

Staff Writer Tim Devaney can be contacted at 791-6367 or at: tdevaney@pressherald.com