The College of Community Health Sciences in 2026 celebrated three decades of preparing Alabama’s rural students to be the state’s rural physicians.
Through its innovative Rural Medical Scholars Program, nearly 80 participants are now physicians practicing in rural Alabama communities
“Thirty years ago, a group of visionary leaders recognized that there was a growing shortage of physicians in rural communities and that the traditional pathways of medical education weren’t adequately serving rural communities,” said Dr. Richard Friend, dean of CCHS. “Rather than accept that reality, they created an innovative solution.”
The Rural Medical Scholars Program works to recruit and assist rural Alabama college students who want to become physicians and practice in the state’s rural communities, where they are most needed. The program is a five-year medical education track exclusively for students from rural Alabama who aspire to become doctors and return to their hometowns, or similar communities, to practice. Studies have shown that many physicians who come from rural areas and who begin their careers in rural areas typically stay and practice in those communities.
The Rural Medical Scholars Program includes a year of study, after students receive their undergraduate degree, during which they earn a master’s degree in rural community health and early admission to the UAB Heersink School of Medicine in Birmingham, Ala.
Since its 1996 founding, 289 students have participated in the Rural Medical Scholars Program. A total of 127 participants have graduated medical school and completed residency training and are currently practicing in Alabama. Of those, 76 scholars, more than one-third, are currently practicing in rural Alabama.
Friend credits Dr. John Wheat, a professor with CCHS and founder of the Rural Medical Scholars Program, as well as Dr. Jim Leeper, CCHS professor emeritus, who served as director of Education and Evaluation for the program.
“Their work helped lay the foundation for a rural health workforce pipeline designed to identify and prepare students who understand the needs of rural communities,” Friend said.
Wheat said the Rural Medical Scholars Program moves away from traditional models of medical education that center on urban, hospital-based training and toward a community-based approach that recruits students from rural backgrounds.
During the first year of the program, Rural Medical Scholars complete graduate coursework in rural community health at The University of Alabama and participate in special seminars, field trips and community service programs. Provided students meet the entrance requirements for admission to the Heersink School of Medicine and perform well in the pre-matriculation year, a slot is reserved for them in the following year’s class.
In years two and three, Rural Medical Scholars take basic medical sciences and pre-clinical sciences courses at the Heersink School of Medicine campus in Birmingham. In years four and five, students return to UA and CCHS, which also functions as the Heersink School of Medicine’s Tuscaloosa Regional Campus, for clinical rotations and rural preceptorships.
“I’m incredibly proud to have been part of the first class of this program,” said Dr. Drake Lavender, who practiced for nearly a decade in rural Gordo, Ala., after completing a family medicine residency at CCHS. Today, he is a clinical professor of family medicine with CCHS and directs the College’s rural health education programs. Lavender was also instrumental in establishing the College’s Rural Dental Scholars Program, which is modeled after the Rural Medical Scholars Program and works to prepare future dentists for practice in rural Alabama communities.
“The Rural Medical Scholars Program allowed me to be part of a cohort of students with similar backgrounds and career goals. This was incredibly valuable going through medical school together with a study and support group,” Lavender said.
Of the eight students in the inaugural 1996 class, seven chose primary care specialties and five entered practice in rural Alabama.
“The Rural Medical Scholars Program has had an incredible impact on the health of rural Alabamians and an impact on those of us who came through the program,” Lavender said.
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