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The mission of The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS) and goals for which it was created in 1972 are to supply well-trained doctors for rural Alabama and focus on ways to improve health services in rural communities. To further this mission, the Department of Community and Rural Medicine developed a group of rural health projects that bring together resources and research available through the state’s academic institutions to assist communities in improving the health of rural Alabamians.
CCHS began this work in the early 1990s in partnership with the Rural Alabama Health Alliance (RAHA), a nonprofit organization representing the health care interests of rural counties in the region surrounding CCHS. The partnership developed the strategy for an educational pipeline creating rural physicians and planned a program for agricultural health and safety. The primary focus for these efforts is to create a Rural Health Leaders Pipeline to identify, nurture, and assist rural students to enter medical and health care education and return to rural Alabama as primary care physicians and health practitioners.
The focus of the Rural Health Programs is increasing numbers of rural students who prepare for health and
medical careers in Rural Alabama and giving them
opportunities for rural training experiences. The Rural Health Leaders Pipeline is a sequence programs for rural students. To date, these programs have served students in rural areas of every county in Alabama (Map).
These
programs are directed by John Wheat, MD, MPH,
Professor of Community and Rural Medicine at UA’s
College of Community Health Sciences, a branch of
the University of Alabama School of Medicine.
Department of Community and Rural Medicine
College of Community Health Sciences
The University of Alabama
UA School of Medicine-Tuscaloosa
Rural Health Programs
Box 870327
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0327
384 Nott Hall
(205) 348-5892
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