May 10, 1999
Contact: Linda Jackson, Rural Health Projects
The University of Alabama, (205) 348-1302
Rural Medical Scholars Program Featured at National Conference
The Rural Medical Scholars Program (RMSP)will be highlighted
in a poster presentation at the 27th Annual Conference of the
National Rural Health Association held in San Diego, California,
May 27-29, 1999. Susan Guin, R.N., C.R.N.P., Coordinator
of the program, and two Rural Medical Scholars will represent
RMSP at the conference. John Hagen, Director of the Rural Alabama
Health Education Center, which has offices in the CCHS Department
of Behavioral and Community Medicine and works with the RMSP to
develop community projects and field placements, will accompany
them.
The students are members
of the third class of Rural Medical Scholars to enter the University
of Alabama School of Medicine. They start UASOM this summer
and will return to CCHS as third year medical students to complete
their clinical training in Tuscaloosa. The first class of
Rural Medical Scholars return to CCHS this summer to receiving
clinical training during their final two years of medical school.
The Rural Medical Scholars
program was established at CCHS in 1996 as a joint effort between
The University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School
of Medicine. Ten qualified students from rural areas are
chosen each year as Rural Medical Scholars, a highly selective
pre-med program in which the students focus on issues related
to community medicine and primary care in rural Alabama. Students
with rural backgrounds interested in practicing medicine in a
rural area are eligible for RMSP. Admission to the program
is based on high academic achievement, character, and leadership
qualities. The RMSP is part of a Rural Health Pipeline,
says John Wheat, MD, founder and director of the program.
"Rural physicians will most likely come from rural
backgrounds," says Dr. Wheat, Associate Professor of Internal
Medicine and Community Medicine at CCHS, who also initiated the
Rural Health Scholar program for high school students from rural
Alabama. The Rural Scholar programs give these students
a chance to meet others (both students and practicing health providers)
with similar backgrounds and interests. They are able to
form peer groups for support that continues throughout their educational
process and into their careers."
The program is supported
by funding from the Alabama Legislature through the Alabama Family
Practice Rural Health Board with assistance from The University
of Alabama, University of Alabama School of Medicine (UASOM),
and other organizations interested in rural health in Alabama,
including the Alabama Academy of Family Physicians, Alabama Cooperative
Extension System, Alabama Farm Federation, Alabama Hospital Association,
Auburn University College of Agriculture, State Department of
Public Health, Medical Association of the State of Alabama (MASA),
Rural Alabama Health Alliance, the UASOM Longitudinal Curriculum
Task Force and Primary Care Advisory Committee, University of
South Alabama AHEC Program, and the Alabama Chapter of WIFE
(Women Involved in Farm Economics).
For more information, contact the Rural Medical Scholar Program,
CCHS, Box 870326, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0326. (205)348-5892.