UA Brings 2016 Rural Health Scholars to Campus

Note: High-resolution photos of the participants are available for the media. Email rllecomte@ur.ua.edu. 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Two select groups of students from across Alabama recently were on The University of Alabama campus for the 2016 Rural Health Scholars and Rural Minority Health Scholars programs in UA’s College of Community Health Sciences.

These two five-week programs introduce students from rural areas to college life and give them an orientation to the need for health and medical professionals in communities like their own. Statistics show that rural students are more likely to live and practice in rural areas. The concept of the Rural Health Leaders Pipeline was developed as part of a strategy to recruit rural students into medical school.

The Rural Health Scholars, who are rising high school seniors, live on campus, take college courses in English and chemistry, learn about health careers, participate in seminars with practicing health care professionals and make field trips to rural health care facilities and a medical school. Students receive college credit, tuition, housing and a meal ticket. Since the Rural Health Scholars program was founded in 1993, a total of 625 students from rural areas in every Alabama county have participated.

The Rural Minority Health Scholars, who are recent high school graduates who will be attending college, live on campus, take a general chemistry course, attend tutorials, seminars, field trips to rural medical facilities and shadow African-American physicians from their hometowns. This program was initiated to increase the number of minority students from rural Alabama who qualify for admission to medical school through the Rural Medical Scholars Program. Since the program began in 2001 approximately 10 students per year – 166 in all – have attended the program.

These programs are part of the UA Rural Health Leaders Pipeline founded by Dr. John Wheat, professor of community & rural medicine at the College of Community Health Sciences. The pipeline’s mission, said Wheat, is to encourage, attract and nurture students of rural Alabama into and through programs to “grow our own” rural health professionals who are leaders in developing healthy communities.

Rural Health Scholars included:

Minority Health Scholars included:

Rural Health Scholars

Minority Health Scholars