Faculty Profile
Salvatore LoCoco, MD, MBA
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
TTUHSC Lubbock School of Medicine
A: My wife and I were driving back from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to our home in Fort Worth, Texas, during spring break of 2023. We’re driving back in a snowstorm and stopped in Lubbock for the night — just because we hadn’t been here in years — and went to our old haunts around town. I remember driving back and looking at the small towns. I remember one of the towns that just had a nurse practitioner clinic in an office. It’s always been a worry to me that the people who live out here don’t have access to healthcare. So, a few weeks later, a friend of mine from here called me to see if I knew anybody who might be interested in coming out here. One thing led to another, and it kind of opened the doors for it.
Q: How is access to care a barrier for patients in the area?
A: I take care of gynecologic cancer. Cervical cancer is still a big problem out here, and I think access to screening has been a big problem. We’re doing a study right now to look at data for the region, but I would say we have a much higher percentage of Stage 3 and 4 cervical cancers than I’ve seen in other areas, just because access to screening in a timely manner is limited. We serve 121 counties. I think TTUHSC has a unique opportunity to fill those gaps if we strategize properly with the smaller communities.
Q: Why did you choose medicine?
A: I had an injury when I was a wrestler in high school that required a couple of surgeries, so I had direct interaction with medicine when I was 15 to 16 years old. I think sometimes it’s God’s providence to point out, maybe this is what you need to do. So, I never really got it out of my head.
Q: How do people skills impact medicine?
A: I think when you interview potential medical learners, you have to pay attention to whether they have natural compassion and the ability to communicate. Some specialties don’t require that, but many do, and I think that is how TTUHSC, from what I understand, handles its screening and application process. I think we do as good a job as anybody in identifying the best candidates for practicing medicine.