No more "mister" for this region.

Now it's Dr. Permian Basin - with an M.D. after it.

A new era dawned Monday in the ongoing partnership between the Permian Basin and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center when 18 third-year medical students arrived in Odessa to complete their final two years of medical school at Medical Center Hospital and Midland Memorial Hospital.

Although Tech's medical school already had a residency program in the region, these 18 medical students are the first to study in the Basin prior to their completion of medical school, which they began in Lubbock two years ago.

During a welcoming reception Monday afternoon, Dr. Steven Berk, dean of the TTUHSC School of Medicine, said the students' arrival marked a whole new chapter in the relationship between the Lubbock-based medical program, the Permian Basain, Medical Center Hospital and Midland Memorial Hospital.

Beyond the students' affiliation with Tech and its local school of medicine, the local program's expansion also presents an opportunity for the local community to lend their support to the local students, who will be Basin residents for the next two years - and possibly beyond.

"It is so important for the community as a whole to become a part of this operation," Berk said.

Dr. John Jennings, regional dean for the TTU medical school in the Permian Basin, said this particular medical program has been in the works for at least five years.

Virgil Trower, an Ector County Hospital District board member, said five years is a low estimate and the expanded medical program has been a long time in coming.

"You just don't know how long it's taken," he told the group of students, "but we really appreciate y'all."

Jennings echoed Berk's sentiments by expressing optimism about the partnership in the future.

"We have a community that's behind this group," he said, "and we have a community that's behind this school."

Of the 18 new students, all are either from Texas or from New Mexico, and many said they were familiar with the Odessa/Midland area before coming here for school.

Martin Ortega, an arriving medical student from Midland, said he, as an aspiring doctor growing up, never suspected he would be able to attend school so close to home.

But now he can.

"Even when I got into medical school, this opportunity didn't exist," he said. "I found it really exciting to learn a couple of years ago that this was in the works."

One of the biggest benefits of a local medical school, Jennings said, is the retention of its graduates, a prediction mirrored by another of the students.

Tyler McSpadden, a Rankin native among the new medical students, said statistics show that most resident physicians tend to stay put when they finish their residency.

"I think the same holds true to where you go to medical school," he said.

Bottom line, Jennings said, is that a medical school in a region the size of the Permian Basin is music to that area's ears.

"It's an important step for the community, because to have a medical school's presence in a community the size of the Permian Basin is a big deal," he said. "A lot of communities this size would beg to have a medical school."

Jennings said the school hopes to enroll another 20 third-year students by next July, bringing the number of pre-residency medical students in the area to 38.

He also said the medical school plans to hire about 60 additional faculty by the end of the summer, bringing that total to about 140 or 150, including full- and part-time.

BY THE NUMBERS

>> What: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine of the Permian Basin.

>> Number of new doctors: 18.

>> Planned number of new doctors within one year: about 38.

>> Planned number of new faculty members: 60.

>> Expected number of total faculty: between 140 and 150.

THE STUDENTS

>> Elizabeth Cannon, Albuquerque, N.M.

>> Jessica Clay, Conroe.

>> Megan Fitch, Deer Park.

>> Emily Goulet, Allen.

>> Jordan Grant, Sulphur Springs.

>> Laura Harmon, Wichita Falls.

>> Blair Haws, Fort Worth.

>> Whitney Jenson, Austin.

>> Elisabeth Jones, Dallas.

>> Kaycee Kloeppel, Albuquerque, N.M.

>> Kimberly Lavender, Lubbock.

>> Tyler McSpadden, Rankin.

>> Mary Miller, Garland.

>> Martin Ortega, Midland.

>> Todd Phillips, Mandeville.

>> Steven Reeves, Marshall.

>> Kyle Schweser, Carlsbad, N.M.

>> Melissa Tucker, Fairfield.