NDSU Researcher Draws Attention to Physician Shortage
Steve Hallstrom
Special to The Farmer
While the legislature acted to address several health issues, a prominent NDSU researcher says that without fundamental reforms to the state’s medical pipeline, the investment may fail to solve a bigger problem - the increasing shortage of doctors.
The state is currently grappling with a projected deficit of hundreds of physicians, a crisis that Dr. Robert Mayo, a researcher at the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth, says is driven by a lack of residency opportunities for medical graduates.
In a recent interview on The Steve Hallstrom Show on AM 1090 The Flag, Mayo noted that North Dakota currently ranks 37th nationally in its doctor-to-patient ratio and faces a looming shortfall that could reach 500 doctors by 2040 if current population trends continue. For Mayo, the data is underscored by a personal struggle to find care for his own family within the state’s borders.
“This issue is very personal to me because I started this research because our daughter was born premature and we couldn’t get specialist care for her. So this isn’t just cold research for me. I think it’s a good idea to look at other states that are dealing with similar problems, because other large rural states have had similar problems. And we can learn from what worked because it’s worked and what has not panned out. We don’t have to invent the wheel here.”
The special session was triggered by the availability of $199 million in federal funding - largely sourced from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and federal rural development grants - specifically earmarked for healthcare infrastructure and access (North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, 2026). Mayo is also urging the legislature to focus on the residency “bottleneck” at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
According to research from the Challey Institute, North Dakota has historically struggled with retention because it provides the fewest residency slots per medical school graduate in the United States. This effectively forces the doctors who are trained in the state, to leave for their final years of education.
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