The University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina opened in July 2011 as an innovative medical education program designed to address the shortage of rural doctors in the United States. The goal of the program is to attract medical students with a strong interest in practicing rural medicine and encourage them to stay and build their own practices in rural areas after earning their degrees and completing their residencies. The new campus’ curriculum is tied to the classroom offerings at the KU Medical Center’s campuses in Kansas City and Wichita. The learning process relies heavily on video-conferencing, with students in Salina participating in lectures with their peers in other cities and receiving many of their lectures via podcast.