Media contact: Anna Jones
This funding will be used to increase educational activities for medical students, including a mentorship with family medicine physicians, a 10-patient panel to work with over four years, leadership and interprofessional education, and more. The Department of Family and Community Medicine’s Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experienceprogram at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has received a supplemental award from the Health Resources and Services Administration for $5.2 million.
The supplemental funding will be used to increase educational activities for medical students, redesign family medicine curriculum across all UAB regional campuses, provide CU²RE students with stipends to offset medical education costs, and implement new faculty, staff and student development initiatives.
“This supplemental funding will help us reimagine medical student education in primary care at UAB,” said Irfan Asif, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean for Primary Care and Rural Health for the School of Medicine. “We will be able to collaborate even more with our regional campuses and key community partners and help develop innovative models of care in clinics across the state, such as telehealth suites and genomic programs.”
Selected students in the School of Medicine will receive longitudinal mentoring from family medicine physicians, early access to clinical hours, a 10-patient panel to work with over four years, leadership and interprofessional education, and more.
The CU²RE program is designed to enhance the recruitment, training and retention of medical students dedicated to serving as family medicine physicians to provide primary care in the medically underserved urban and rural areas of Alabama. HRSA provided the initial funding for the program in 2020. For more information, visit the Department of Family and Community Medicine website.