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Summer program targets rural medical scholars
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi high school juniors considering medical careers in their home state have the opportunity to take part in an intense and revealing summer program at Mississippi State University.
The five-week Rural Medical Scholars summer program at MSU aims to identify the state’s future primary care doctors and help them become members of the medical school class of 2025. Applications for the May 29 through June 30 program must be submitted by March 11.
“Mississippi still has the lowest number of physicians per capita in the nation, which limits access to care and contributes to many of the negative health issues plaguing our state,” said Ann Sansing, community health coordinator for the MSU Extension Service. “The one constant in health care reform discussions is the need for more primary care physicians. The scholars program is helping to address that need in Mississippi.”
Sansing said with a declining number of rural physicians, the concern for adequate health care increases as well. A goal of the program is to develop a pipeline of future medical providers.
“The program is clearly meeting the need it was designed to accomplish -- increasing the availability of primary care physicians and health care services throughout rural Mississippi,” she said. “To date, 341 students have participated in the RMS program, with most planning health-related careers. Thirty-six of our graduates went on to medical school, and 28 of those are practicing physicians today.”
The program is primarily funded by the MSU Extension Service with additional support from the State Office of Rural Health and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Students between their junior and senior years, who have ACT composite scores of at least 24, will take two premed courses on the Starkville campus -- biology and sociology -- and observe doctors at practice from May 29 through June 30.
The selected scholars will receive tuition, housing and textbooks during the program. A $60 registration fee is required after acceptance, and the scholars will be responsible for their food expenses. Applications and program details are available online at http://www.RMS.msucares.com.
