Freshmen interested in medicine were challenged Tuesday night to learn more about the American health care system and work for change in the future.

Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the School of Medicine and CEO of the UNC Health Care system, presented The Future of Medicine as part of the First Year Fellows lecture series.

Roper emphasized the need for medical students to understand government policy in order to excel in the field of medicine.

I hope that those of you interested in medicine are not perturbed (by these issues), Roper said.

Rather, I hope you see this as an opportunity to pursue medicine and get involved in these wider issues of national and public policy that are so important.

Roper said a false perception about American health care is that people eventually get all of the care they need.

He said individuals without health insurance are slower in seeking care and are ultimately worse off when they receive treatment.

Given these problems, Roper said that it is the substantial changes the way the system is organized, doctors are paid and services are rendered that need to be focused on.

We are not going to have sweeping change in health care, he said.

Rather, we are going to have incremental changes year after year that I hope will take us in the right direction in order to fix the problems I am trying to highlight.

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UNC School of Medicine Dean Bill Roper stresses medical policy