Paging more doctors to the Inland Empire.
Answering the call to help fix the region’s shortage are students such as 25-year-old Markus Saavedra.
Inspired by his veterinarian grandfather, the California Baptist University student always knew he wanted to be in the medical field. But when Saavedra researched the amount of training it took to become a doctor, he pivoted down the shorter physician assistant path.
“He didn’t work with humans, but he would always speak to people on their level, no matter where they came from,” said Saavedra, who is from Lancaster. “I saw how it really made a difference in the way patients felt heard and received care, how they were treated and so I wanted to model that.”
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California Baptist University physician assistant student Markus Saavedra, a 25-year-old from Lancaster, demonstrates a butterfly ocular ultrasound on student Jianna Andrews in Riverside on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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California Baptist University physician assistant student Markus Saavedra, a 25-year-old from Lancaster, demonstrates a butterfly ocular ultrasound on student Jianna Andrews in Riverside on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
To address the Inland area’s severe physician shortage, universities are leading the way and seeking students — like Saavedra — to train as physican assistants or doctors. California Baptist University, UC Riverside and the California University of Science and Medicine in Colton are working to add to the state’s declining health care workforce by training professionals who they hope will stay to serve the region.
ALSO SEE: Cal State San Bernardino’s physician assistant program fails to launch
A physician assistant can diagnose and treat patients under a doctor’s supervision. A career track that started in the 1960s, these licensed clinicians help doctors by seeing patients and performing procedures, from suturing wounds to helping with surgeries, depending on state requirements. They get hands-on experience through a program that typically culminates with a master’s degree.
U.S. programs are usually 2 to 2 1/2 years long — much shorter than the average medical doctor’s training, which can be eight or more years. While many programs include clinical rotations, specialties and postgraduate training, there’s no residency requirement, according to the American Medical Association.
Reports show a severe shortage of doctors in California, especially in the Inland Empire. The region has a population of more than 4.6 million and roughly 40 primary care physicians per 100,000 people — well short of the 60 to 80 recommended by the California Health Care Foundation, according to UCR’s research.
Similar research from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings shows one primary care physician per 1,230 residents in California. In San Bernardino County, for every one doctor, there are 1,700 residents. It’s worse in Riverside County, where there’s one physician for every 2,160 people.
The private California Baptist University offers a two-year master of science in physician assistant studies program that launched in 2016.
With a nearly 100% graduation rate, the program — which has a 2% acceptance rate — has doubled from 30 to 60 students per class and last year moved into a renovated off-campus facility near the Galleria at Tyler mall in Riverside.
Of California Baptist’s physician assistant alums, 35% are working alongside physicians, according to Heather Ontiveros, a professor and chair of the school’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies. A physician assistant’s two-year training at California Baptist offers much of what physicians receive, Ontiveros said, and many choose specialties such as women’s health, behavioral health, surgery, pediatrics or internal/emergency medicine.
After a year in labs and classrooms, students do clinical rotations, exploring different specialties by working in clinics and hospitals from the Inland Empire to L.A. and San Diego.
“We give preference to (applicants) who want to serve in an underserved region,” Ontiveros said. “We attract those who are underserved, who want to treat the underserved, because we do, too. It aligns with CBU’s mission … we honor the Lord every day, a huge part of our ethos, that’s about giving back and understanding that we’re here for a purpose bigger than ourselves.”
California Baptist’s program is majority female, a big leap in a once male-dominated field. Nearly half — 49% — of the university’s physican assistant graduates stay in the Inland Empire, Ontiveros said. About 28% go into primary care, 24% go into emergency/urgent medicine, and approximately 10% into surgeries.
As for trainee Saavedra, he works at a Corona family medicine clinic in his second year of physician assistant school. He appreciates connecting with patients in Spanish, especially in the Latino-heavy Inland area and recalled how his grandfather connected with patients, especially Latinos, despite the culture’s general “distrust in the medical community.”
“When I saw that I thought, ‘This is what I want to do and why I want to do it’ — making connections, building trust with my patients, rather than just treat a diagnosis and call it a day.”
Other Inland universities are also addressing the shortage with training programs — or are trying to.
UC Riverside has run its highly rated medical school since 2013. It has graduated 460 physicians, with 36% of the last graduating class staying in the Inland Empire for residencies, spokesperson Iqbal Pittalwala said. In the past five years, an average of 37% of graduates have continued to work in the Inland region.
UCR is also in the early stages of developing its training hospital near the campus and hopes to admit more medical students and train them there.
Working with high schools and colleges, UCR School of Medicine’s Pathway Programs also supports more than 1,200 students interested in medical school or working in primary health and science careers, officials said.
Dr. Daniel Teraguchi, UCR’s executive associate dean for student affairs and the Salma Haider Endowed Chair for the Thomas Haider Program, helps oversee the 10 pathway programs that help recruit future health professionals. Of the hundreds admitted into UCR’s four-year medical school, at least 90% have Inland Empire ties and the university sees that as a “big investment” toward the health care in the area, Teraguchi said.
About 40% of UCR students do residencies in the area, he said. UCR is also the UC system’s only community-based medical school, meaning that most its medical students train at community clinics across the Inland area and from the Coachella Valley to Apple Valley.
“A big part of addressing the area’s workforce shortage is getting folks to work in our community,” Teraguchi added. “If you grew up here, you’re more likely to practice here.”
“That’s our goal — we want to be the anchor, central hub of health care access for the IE,” producing “leaders in the community” who focus on “empowering patients, reducing health disparities and improving overall access to health in the region.”
One anticipated medical program failed to launch this fall.
In August, Cal State San Bernardino‘s long-awaited Master of Science in Physician Assistant program did not receive the provisional accreditation it needed to begin training students, officials said. An inaugural class of 40 students was supposed to start that month, according to the university.
But the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant denied the accreditation needed to operate the program.
The university was “disheartened to share this news after years of preparation and unwavering support from elected leaders, health care partners, and our local community,” officials said in an online message.
It’s not clear if officials at Cal State San Bernardino, which itself is fully accredited, plan to reapply.
Over the past decade, another Inland program has been fighting the shortage.
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Christopher Nguyen, Yamila Salazar, Brianna Ma and Dr. Hina Mohsin, assistant professor of medical education, are seen at the California University of Science and Medicine in Colton in 2022. The school offers a master of biomedical sciences degree and a four-year doctor of medicine program. (Courtesy of Rafael Pena, California University of Science and Medicine)
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Christopher Nguyen, Yamila Salazar, Brianna Ma and Dr. Hina Mohsin, assistant professor of medical education, are seen at the California University of Science and Medicine in Colton in 2022. The school offers a master of biomedical sciences degree and a four-year doctor of medicine program. (Courtesy of Rafael Pena, California University of Science and Medicine)
The California University of Science and Medicine opened its Colton campus in 2020, but had established a medical school in 2015, officials said.
It offers two programs: a 10-month Master of Biomedical Sciences degree for those seeking careers in health care or health education and a four-year M.D. program, both of which began accepting students in 2018.
Officials said 99% of its graduates find positions in residency programs, usually three to four years, with many based in the area. These include partner hospitals such as Riverside Community Hospital, Riverside University Health System, Eisenhower Medical Center in the Coachella Valley, and its main residency partner, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
To date, the university has conferred 410 M.D. degrees. Fifty percent of its biomedical sciences students are local, and 55 of 130 students in this year’s M.D. group are from the Inland area, university spokesperson Cynthia Baker said in a statement.
The program works with schools, introducing kindergarten- through high school-aged students to health care careers, Baker added. Thanks to grants, the university is developing training programs, health education programs and facilities to serve the region’s rural areas, including its newest health clinic in Riverside focusing on neurological care.
The university’s goal is “to provide the best medical education available, as well as ensure our students understand that compassion, empathy and equity are essential to career of healthcare service to patients,” Baker said.
During a Thursday, Sept. 11, lab for new physician assistant students at California Baptist, James Zapata — a practitioner who helps teach classes and labs — demonstrated a 3D ocular ultrasound exam for new students, with Saavedra’s help.
“We have a major underserved community here in the IE,” Zapata said afterward. “Having more quality programs — and the doubled cohort size here — is important because we have a huge (medical professional) shortage … We have patients who need good quality clinicians, who will care for them well.”
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