Rural Scholars Track is Program of the Year

(Source: Family Medicine News. LSU-NO School of Medicine)

The LSUHSC Rural Scholars Track was named the 2008 Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year by the Louisiana Rural Health Association.

The Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year Award recognizes a statewide or recurrent program/project that promotes the development of rural health-care delivery systems, promotes and/or provides increased access to health care services for rural populations, or improves the quality for rural health care through educational outreach.

The Rural Scholars Track was created in 2002 to recruit students who are interested in practicing primary-care medicine and general surgery in rural Louisiana. Students are identified upon acceptance into medical school and contractually agree to pursue rural practice in Louisiana. Their education is tailored to the needs of a rural practice and upon completion of their residencies, these physicians are ideally trained to fill the medical needs of rural Louisiana. Tuition is waived for students enrolled in the Rural Track.

The Rural Track has 18 graduates, including the class of 2009. Of these recent nine graduates, seven chose Family Medicine, one chose Internal Medicine, and one chose OB/GYN. All chose to stay in state for their residency training.

There are currently 42 students in the RST for 2009-2010 academic year- eight first years, fourteen second years, ten third years, and ten fourth years.

Up to 15 students are accepted in each class, and interested students can apply at any time. For more information, contact Dr. Kim LeBlanc at 504-568-4570 or klebla@lsuhsc.edu.