Did you know that our doctors are also teachers? Many doctors who are part of Privia Medical Group North Texas (PMGNTX) lend their time, knowledge and experience to aspiring physicians.
PMGNTX doctors are on faculty at our region’s medical schools. They also supervise residents at area teaching hospitals and provide fellowships in their own practice, allowing new doctors to get hands-on training. These experienced physicians are providing the benefit of their experience and knowledge to the next generation of doctors.
North Texas Needs More Doctors
The Dallas/Fort Worth region continues to experience rapid population growth. In 2025, our area’s population is more than 8 million residents, with new people arriving here every day. In the next decade, DFW will add another two million people and surpass the Chicago region as the third-largest metro area in the United States. By the year 2050, our population is projected to swell to 12 million, a 50% increase from what it is today.
That kind of growth poses a lot of opportunities and challenges. All those new people need jobs, roads, homes, schools and of course, health care. That means we need more lab technicians, nurses and physicians.
Two Essentials to Train Doctors: Medical Schools & Residency Programs
Tarrant County is the North Texas epicenter for medical education: it is home to two medical schools: the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) and Texas Christian University (TCU) Burnett School of Medicine, both in Fort Worth. In addition, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) College of Nursing and Health Innovation produces more registered nurses than any other school in Texas. UTA is also the largest not-for-profit nursing school in the United States.
Medical school typically lasts four years. But graduating from medical school doesn’t mean a new doctor’s training is complete – they must complete a residency next. Residency is hands-on training under the supervision of experienced physicians. Residency programs are often, but not always, housed in a hospital setting; these are often referred to as “teaching hospitals.” The length of a residency depends on the specialty area the doctor is pursuing, but they generally last between three and seven years.
There are several hospitals throughout the DFW area that provide residency programs. This is crucially important to keep up with the growth of our region: statistics show that the majority of doctors will establish their practice in the same geographic area where they conducted their residency. For primary care physicians – a field we need more of – more than two-thirds will stay in the same area. That’s why it’s important that as new medical schools come online, we continue to add residency slots so that recent medical school graduates are not lost to other states.
PMGNTX Doctors Training the Next Generation
In addition to running their own practices and caring for their patients, numerous PMGNTX physicians play a vital role in training the next generation of doctors our state and region will depend on for decades to come. Here’s a look at some of the many PMGNTX physicians who are committed to teaching:
TCU Burnett School of Medicine
A number of PMGNTX physicians helped launch the TCU Burnett School of Medicine in 2019 and several of them continue to work there today, teaching medical students in a wide array of specialty areas.
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Dr. Joseph Kilianski, a Grapevine OB/GYN, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “I teach 2nd year students during clinical OB/GYN rotations,” he explains. “They will take overnight calls with me one day out of the week and get hands-on experience dealing with obstetric and gynecologic emergencies.”
Dr. Beatrice Kutzler, a Fort Worth OB/GYN, also works at TCU as an Assistant Professor.
Internal Medicine & Family Medicine
Dr. Ramu Rangineni, an internal medicine physician in North Richland Hills, has been an Assistant Professor at TCU for about three years. He trains students two days a week in his office.
Dr. Steven Meyers, a sports medicine physician, works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at TCU. He also serves as a student research preceptor there. In the medical field, a preceptor provides hands-on experience and supervision to students in a clinical setting.
Dr. Triwanna Fisher-Wikoff, a Fort Worth family medicine physician, also works at TCU. “I am one of the longitudinal clerkship preceptors where I have first- and second-year students come and rotate with me for 40 weeks out of the year. They come every two weeks,” she says. “I’m also part of the Texas Family Medicine Preceptorship program with the Texas Academy of Family Physicians where I take in a first-year medical student from across the state to come rotate with me for two or four weeks in the summer.”
Dr. Fisher-Wikoff stays extremely busy: when she’s not teaching or treating her patients, she also serves as the 2025 President of the Tarrant County Medical Society.
These PMGNTX primary care physicians also serve as Assistant Professors at the TCU Burnett School of Medicine:
Internal Medicine: Dr. Mark Ziats
Family Medicine: Dr. Gregory Bratton & Dr. Daniel Tran.
General Surgery
Dr. Travis Crudup is Fort Worth-based general surgeon who also works as a TCU Assistant Professor. “I probably spend 2-3 hours a week with my assigned medical student in my clinic and in the operating room (OR),” he says. “I am also teaching faculty at the Harris Fort Worth general surgery residency program and spend 4-5 hours a week teaching the residents in the OR and clinic.”
Passing the Torch at Texas’ Newest Medical School
Dr. Joe Eddie Saucedo, a family medicine physician based in Corsicana, serves as the Regional Medical Director and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Sam Houston State University (SHSU) College of Osteopathic Medicine. He previously served as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor for UNTHSC in Fort Worth. SHSU is Texas’ newest medical school, which welcomed its first class in 2020.
“I personally have 3rd and 4th year medical students rotate through my office regularly – as outpatient family medicine and as a rural medicine site for these students,” Dr Saucedo says. “When you see the students get it or as things click in their minds from what they have studied in a textbook to see it in a patient is truly rewarding.”
As Regional Medical Director, Dr. Saucedo’s duties include being available to the medical students and addressing any issues that they may have while rotating in the Corsicana and Waco area, as well as the Dallas /Fort Worth area.
“SHSU College of Medicine just graduated its first class in May of 2024 with 69 new physicians and we expect this number to grow to about 150 future physicians per year! It’s been exciting to be part of a new school and breaking ground with new locations,” Dr. Saucedo says. “This is something that I love doing and the time melts away when you see a student shimmy with excitement as they make those connections of something that they learned. Knowing that I am passing the proverbial torch to the next generation of physicians has been a very rewarding experience.”
PMGNTX Doctors at Other North Texas Schools
Dr. Scott Ewing, a Fort Worth cardiologist, serves as an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at UNTHSC.
Finally, Dr. Sreemdevi Ramakrishnan is a Frisco pediatrician who also works as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor and Preceptor for Nurse Practitioner students at the University of Texas at Arlington in both Family Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner programs.
Making a Difference: Now and for Years to Come
“No matter the profession, virtually everyone has benefitted from the wisdom and experience of those who came before them,” says Dr. Taylor Bradley, President of PMGNTX. “This is especially true in the field of medicine; we all learned from doctors who imparted their knowledge to us. It’s crucial that today’s doctors help train the next generation, which is why we are all so proud of our Privia colleagues who not only provide excellent care to their patients every day but are also doing their part to pass the torch of medicine.”
This article has been reviewed and approved by a panel of Privia Medical Group North Texas physicians.
This article contains information sourced from:
College of Nursing and Health Innovation – The University of Texas at Arlington
