R E C RU I T I NG N E X T G E N E R AT ION OF P H Y S IC I A N S
OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT NASOM member Caleb Watson in the simulation center at the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation.
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s part of a $3.5 million grant awarded in September 2022 from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Centers for Excellence, OSU Center for Health Sciences is working to recruit and prepare Native American students to enter medical school. The five-year grant is being used to create a Native American Primary Care Center for Excellence. The funds are being used to develop Native Pathways, which takes students from high school and undergraduate studies to medical school utilizing new and existing recruitment events and preadmissions workshops specifically for American Indian students. 10 // VITALS 2023 IMPACT REPORT
The grant will also provide scholarships and resources for American Indian medical students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. “Less than 0.2 percent of physicians are Native American in the United States, even less in STEM careers. If students can see someone like themselves in medicine, and a pathway, they can create a vision for themselves in the future,” said Kent Smith, Ph.D., associate dean of the Office of American Indians in Medicine and Science at OSU-CHS.
