Dr. Henry Young places a white coat on incoming medical student Marina Abdelshahid on Aug. 9. Credit: Courtesy of The Ohio State University College of Medicine
The Ohio State College of Medicine will host its very first cohort of students who will be taking the Community Medicine MD Track — or CMT — which is for students who want to practice medicine in rural areas or small communities.
According to a Health Resources and Services Administration report, 65% of rural areas had a shortage of primary care physicians in 2023. The incoming CMT cohort will host 15 students who will spend their first two years of medical school on the Columbus campus, and then complete their next two years on the Lima campus to gain clinical experience at Mercy Health – St. Rita’s Medical Center, according to the College of Medicine website.
“With the needs of the state specifically for physicians practicing in smaller cities and rural areas, this program specifically addresses that need for the state of Ohio,” said Daniel Clinchot, vice dean for education in the College of Medicine.
Jennifer McCallister, the college’s associate dean for medical education, said a misconception people may have about rural medicine is that it is not a “stimulating” or “rewarding” practice.
Clinchot said another misconception is that the quality of care is lower in rural areas.
“I think that the challenge is that there’s not enough [physicians],” Clinchot said. “It’s not necessarily the quality of physicians that practice in those areas.”
Beyond misconceptions, rural communities face many real challenges when accessing healthcare. McCallister, who grew up in a small town in rural West Virginia, said practicing medicine in smaller communities may come with difficult access to resources.
“Care does not have to be low quality, but there can be challenges to access to resources in the distances that your patients have to travel and the barriers that your patients have to overcome to access the care that you provide,” McCallister said. “And I think one of the things that we really hope that we are able to arm our students with are the skills to help them connect their patients with the resources in their community.”
Students in the CMT group are not restricted to a singular specialty upon acceptance to the program, and they have the opportunity to explore different options.
“In rural and smaller cities, they need physicians, they need surgeons, they need general practitioners,” Clinchot said. “They need specialists, cardiologists — they need all of that. And so until that workforce is developed across the state, it’s going to be challenging.”
A part of the medical school curriculum that will be “uniquely expanded” for CMT students is a focus on interprofessional education, McCallister said. Since the CMT student group is small, they have a better opportunity to interact with health professionals like nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and dieticians.
McCallister said St. Rita’s environment is ideal for facilitating these kinds of educational connections because it has already hosted students in various health professions for years.
“We think that’s really essential for preparing students to practice in the environments that we’ve been talking about, because when you think about overcoming some of the barriers and access to care, you really need to rely on your interprofessional team to really help expand that healthcare footprint,” McCallister said.
College of Medicine class of 2028 outside of Meiling Hall. Credit: Courtesy of The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Rachael Black, an first-year CMD student, said she chose the track because of her personal experience growing up in the small town of Felicity, Ohio.
“I started noticing things in my community, like different health issues — a lot of metabolic disorders like diabetes, type two diabetes, stuff like that,” Black said. “And I noticed that it was very different from the other areas that I knew, closer to the city, where I knew there were a lot more grocery stores, a lot of more options for people to really pursue healthier options in general.”
Black hopes to make a difference in a smaller community by simply being present.
“Honestly, just being present in the first place as a physician is incredible enough — like giving that opportunity for people who may not have access to transportation and stuff like that, the opportunity just to be able to come to the office and not have to take half a day from work to find transportation and drive the hour to the doctor’s office,” Black said.
Black said she would also like to participate in advocacy for healthcare in rural areas so future generations can have the opportunity to practice medicine in those communities.
Ely Roa, another incoming CMD student, grew up in Lima, Ohio, and hopes to practice there during his career.
“Lima is the community that shaped me, and I feel like it’s only right that I go back and give back what they gave me,” Roa said.
Roa said he is excited about how the College of Medicine’s curriculum will help him prepare for the hardships that come with serving a rural area.
“One thing I love about Ohio State is how much they care about community health, how much they care about serving underserved communities and just the community in general,” Roa said. “And I feel like my education here — we’ve kind of gone over the curriculum a little bit — but there’s just so much about caring for your patient populations.”
Listening to patient panels, volunteering at free clinics and getting involved in special interest groups are among the opportunities Roa appreciates, he said.
This year’s College of Medicine class — which consists of 224 people — had its initial white coat ceremony Friday, where students received their white coats and celebrated the beginning of their medical school journey.
