The Institute for Community & Rural Health is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the new cohort of Rural Community Health Scholars. West Virginia University students comprised two-thirds of the inaugural Scholars cohort, and as a result, we are eager to welcome our 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 communities.
Throughout this program, scholars will engage in clinical, didactic, and community-based activities in rural and underserved areas of West Virginia 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 stipend 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 the program on Nov. 1, and complete in June 2021.
Health professions students in the following areas are eligible to apply: Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, Exercise Physiology, Health Informatics and Information Management, Medicine (Osteopathic, Family, OBGYN, etc.), Nurse Practitioner, Nursing, Nursing PhD, Nutrition/Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Public/Population Health Programs, Radiologic Technology and Science, and more (contact us if you do not see your discipline listed – you may still be eligible to participate).
Application deadline is Oct. 1.
For more information, visit our website or contact the RCH Scholars Program Coordinator at RCH_Scholars@hsc.wvu.edu.