The more realistic approach, they reasoned, was to identify and cultivate qualified students from rural areas who already wanted to return to small communities to practice. That idea developed into the medical school's "pipeline model," designed to keep a steady stream of prospective rural doctors headed into the medical school and residency programs, with newly minted doctors returning to practice in Missouri's small towns. The program requires an intensive effort to interest rural students in health care careers. It must first attract them to MU for medical school, then provide ample opportunities to experience rural medicine first-hand and, finally, help them find jobs in the state.

The School of Medicine develops its talent early with a pre-admissions program that is unique among the nation's medical schools. The MU rural track program draws aspiring students from five undergraduate feeder schools in smaller towns that are more likely than urban campuses to attract students from rural areas. These schools include Southeast and Missouri State universities, the University of Missouri-Rolla, Drury University and Truman State University.

Freshman advisors at each college nominate one or two students each year who have strong ACT scores, come from towns with populations under 18,000 and are committed to rural medicine. Typically, these students are interested in a primary care specialty such as pediatrics, internal medicine or family practice. "From our perspective, this is not an equal opportunity program; it's not designed to let a rural person become a neurosurgeon in Chicago," Williamson says. "They must want to go back and serve. If you don't get that piece of it, you don't get the right people."

Students who make it through the admissions interview and keep their grades up, particularly in their science classes, are guaranteed a place in the medical school as Bryant Scholars when they graduate. About eight to 10 Bryant Scholars are accepted into the medical school each year. "It's rigorous, but it means if you're a sophomore and a focused person we'll work with you for the next three years," Williamson says.

The Bryant Scholars program doesn't offer scholarship money directly, but students in the program are eligible for loans of up to $20,000 per academic year from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. If, after graduation, they work for five years in an underserved rural area the loans are forgiven.

During their years in medical school, the rural track takes Bryant Scholars off campus several times to work in rural settings. The first opportunity comes during the summer after their first year of medical school, when they spend two months working at a rural hospital or clinic. This program has become so popular with students that it's been expanded to include as much as 20 to 30 percent of each class.

"They learn a lot more clinical skills than their colleagues," Williamson explains. "They actually start doing doctor stuff rather than theoretical stuff."

Third year Bryant Scholars spend six months working and studying off campus at Area Health Education Centers, or AHECs, in Rolla, Poplar Bluff and St. Joseph. AHECs are part of a national program that receives federal and local funding for health career recruitment programs in underserved rural and urban areas in 48 states. A $957,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health will allow the medical school to open two more AHEC sites in Sikeston and Monette.

Published by the Office of Research.

©2006 Curators of the University of Missouri. Click here to contact the editor.