Benefits
Benefits to Students
- Financial Incentives including $2,800-$3,000 for rural shadowing experiences. Students will be encouraged to apply for a SEARCH stipend of $1,500 during a rural rotation. Second year rural track medical students will be encouraged to apply for the WVU tuition scholarship for students in primary care who are interested in committing to an undeserved area.
- An enhanced training toward practice in rural communities. Also, the opportunity to visit rural community Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHC).
- An opportunity to link with leaders from prospective future communities.
- The educational base which enables students to develop clinical and leadership experiences uniquely targeted to foster success in a rural/underserved practice.
Benefits to West Virginia
Despite a growing presence of rural community preceptors and an increased emphasis on rural primary care in medical school curricula nationally and in the state, some regions of West Virginia have limited access to healthcare.
Our mission is to establish long-term relationships between our physicians and communities while providing a level of care previously unobtainable in the region.
The WVUSOM Rural Track Program desires to
- Enhance our ability to attract and retain excellent medical students from West Virginia Medical Schools.
- Increase retention of medical students for in-state residency programs.
- Provide a mechanism to sponsor innovation in medical school curricula and increase physician placement and retention in underserved areas of the state.
- Provide meaningful financial rewards to medical students who possess the desired traits for success in rural medicine.