University of Alabama welcomes third class of rural pre-medical students
The 2024 class in the University of Alabama's Tuscaloosa Rural Pre-Medical Internship. (contributed)
The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences recently welcomed the 2024 class of the Tuscaloosa Rural Pre-Medical Internship, a summer program for college students in pre-medical studies who are interested in rural primary care.
The seven-week program provides opportunities for interns to learn about the health needs of rural Alabama residents, particularly in the fields of family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Participants also gain a better understanding of the day-to-day life of family medicine doctors. In addition, the program seeks to enhance their understanding of medical school and increase their competitiveness for medical school admission.
The program is part of the college’s Rural Programs and its Rural Health Leaders Pipeline. The pipeline is a sequence of programs from high school through medical school that recruits students from rural Alabama interested in working as future doctors and other health care professionals in rural communities.
“We are excited to welcome our 12 new rural pre-med interns as they look to interact with our CCHS faculty and staff to learn more about the needs of our rural communities in the state,” said LaKeshia Whigham, coordinator for CCHS Rural Programs. “We hope the clinical exposure here at the college, intertwined with community experiences, will strengthen their desire to practice rural medicine.”
Students spend five weeks at CCHS and two weeks with a primary care physician near their hometown. They will complete the internship program July 12.
To be eligible for the internship, students must have completed four semesters of undergraduate coursework, obtained an overall GPA of a 3.0 or higher and scored at least 22 on the ACT or 1,200 on the SAT. Only rural Alabama residents are accepted.
The 2024 Tuscaloosa Rural Pre-Medical Internship class includes:
- Augusta Arnold of Greensboro.
- De’Von Benjamin of Selma.
- Valencia Bryant of Selma.
- Alex Davis of Wilsonville.
- Harrison Dial of Satsuma.
- Erica Doss of Andalusia.
- Nia Jones of Attalla.
- Salil Kumar of Muscle Shoals.
This story originally appeared on the University of Alabama’s website.
