KINGSTON, R.I.—May 20, 2026—While there may be no quick fix to Rhode Island’s decades in the making primary care crisis, at the heart of the problem, says URI President Marc Parlange, is the fact that Rhode Island does not produce enough of its own primary care physicians. In a recent Boston Globe opinion piece, Parlange argues that a public medical school is not a luxury—but a strategic necessity.
Parlange adds, the proposed public medical school at URI—one that is designed to recruit Rhode Islanders, train them in primary care, and prepare them to practice in Rhode Island communities—must be part of a thoughtful combination of short- and long-term solutions, grounded in robust state investment, to strengthen Rhode Island’s healthcare system today and secure it into the future.
In a separate piece authored by Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien and Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera, which ran in The Valley Breeze, the two mayors discuss the challenge too many families face accessing affordable care or even finding a doctor. With communities on the front lines of a worsening primary care crisis, they state doing better starts with increasing the supply of trained primary care doctors in Rhode Island.