Application for Rural Community Health Scholars now open to WVU health professions students
Deadline to apply is Oct. 1
The West Virginia Area Health Education Centers (WV AHEC) are pleased to announce that applications are open for the Rural Community Health Scholars program.
Two-thirds of the Scholars cohorts over the past few years have been WVU students, and as a result, AHEC is eager to welcome their next group of WVU health professionals.
As an overview, WV AHEC Rural Community Health Scholars is a two-year program available to 75 of West Virginia’s top health professions students interested in rural health care across the state.
Additionally, RCH Scholars focuses on interprofessional education through clinical, didactic, and community-based lenses, and emphasizes how each Scholar can create change and reshape the status quo for health care in his/ her/their community.
Throughout this program, Scholars will engage in clinical, didactic, and community-based activities in rural and underserved areas of WV to refine their skill sets and positively impact the lives of West Virginians.
As a Scholar, students will:
- Become leaders in their professions and communities
- Receive supplemental training and education from experts in rural healthcare
- Develop an astute understanding of how to best implement health care services in rural or underserved areas
- Learn how to work as part of an interprofessional team
- Provide meaningful patient care in the field and gain hands-on experience
- Receive a participation award of $1,300 upon program completion
Interested applicants should have an interest in rural health, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, and have at least two years remaining in his/her/their degree program; the new class of accepted Scholars will begin this two year program on Nov. 1, 2021 and complete in June 2023.
Health professions students in the following areas are eligible to apply: Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, Health Informatics and Information Management, Medicine (Osteopathic, Family, OBGYN, etc.), Nurse Practitioner, Nursing, Nursing Ph.D., Nutrition/Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Public/Population Health Programs, and more (contact us if you do not see your discipline listed – you may still be eligible to participate!).
Application deadline is Oct. 1, 2021.
For more information, visit our website or contact the RCH Scholars Program Manager at RCH_Scholars@hsc.wvu.edu.