CHHS and SPEA administrators to discuss healthcare bill, access to care, and physician shortage 
Two Indiana University Northwest administrators – Patrick Bankston, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health and Human Services and assistant dean and director of the IU School of Medicine - Northwest, and Samuel Flint, Ph.D., associate director for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs - will appear this week on the public-affairs program Lakeshore Focus with host Dan Lowery, Ph.D.
The program will air Friday, June 25, at 8:30 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Television (Channel 56), and will be rebroadcast on Sunday, June 27, at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (Lakeshore PTV may be found on Channel 17 for Comcast customers.)
This week’s program will address the controversial healthcare reform bill and its direct effect on patients and their access to care. The discussion will also focus on the declining number of Indiana-based physicians and how that trend may negatively impact patients’ access to treatment.
Bankston received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1973. After a short stint at the former Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, he joined the IU School of Medicine faculty in 1978 as an assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology. He has spent his entire career as an educator, researcher and administrator. Bankston was appointed assistant dean and director of the IU School of Medicine - Northwest in 2005.
After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Flint served as the associate executive director for the American Academy of Pediatrics. During the 18 years he was at the AAP, he led project teams comprised of physicians and policy analysts to address child health policy, health economics, health reform, and physician issues like medical liability and medical workforce. Flint joined IU Northwest as an assistant professor in 2005. He teaches health administration.