Dr. Drake Lavender, director of Rural Programs at the College of Community Health Sciences, was recognized by the Southeastern Conference for his work to increase the physician workforce and access to health care in rural Alabama.
In a piece titled “SEC Faculty Tackle Today’s Health Challenges” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Lavender was featured with faculty from other universities in the SEC for their work to improve health outcomes, particularly in regard to rural health and access to care.
“The Southeastern Conference is home to more than athletic competition – it’s also a network of universities whose faculty are driving progress,” according to the piece on the Chronicle’s website.
Lavender oversees the CCHS Rural Health Leaders Pipeline, a sequence of programs from high school through college created to address the shortage of primary-care physicians and other health-care providers in rural Alabama.
He participated in some of the programs as a youth and college student and was the first graduate of the pipeline’s Rural Medical Scholars Program. The program is exclusively for rural Alabama students and leads to obtaining a medical degree. It includes a year of study and a master’s degree in rural community health at CCHS and early admission to the UAB Heersink School of Medicine.
As of 2024, the Rural Medical Scholars Program had placed nearly 90 primary-care physicians into rural practice in Alabama.
Several years ago, Lavender created the Rural Dental Scholars Program at CCHS. The program, which provides a pathway for admission to the UAB School of Dentistry, is exclusively for rural Alabama students who want to become dentists and practice in the state’s rural communities, where there is a shortage of dentists and oral health care.
“Whether in laboratories, clinics or community partnerships, their (SEC faculty) work embodies the SEC’s commitment to making a transformative difference in the world,” according to the Chronicle piece. For more, visit https://sponsored.chronicle.com/sec-faculty-tackle-todays-health-challenges/.