Four Graduates at Mississippi College Earn Medical Scholarships

MC graduates received medical scholarships:Weston Eldridge, Kaylie Bradshaw, Jonathan Hamilton and Brycen Witcher.

Mississippi College graduates will receive generous scholarships to erase tuition costs to attend medical school in Jackson.

Weston Eldridge of Flora, Kaylie Bradshaw of Ellisville, Jonathan Hamilton of Louisville and Brycen Witcher of Ocean Springs are all recipients of $30,000 per-year awards.

The May 2017 MC graduates will receive the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship as first-year students at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

Created by the state Legislature in 2007, the scholarships are designed to attract Mississippians into healthcare fields in rural areas to address physician shortages.

Upon completing medical school, the professionals must enter a residency program in primary care specialties such as family medicine, general internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology or pediatrics.

Other benefits of being selected: the medical students will receive personalized mentoring from practicing rural physicians and academic support.

The scholarship totals $120,000 over four years of medical school.

Mississippi State University remained the leader with eight graduates recently selected, with MC finishing second among institutions in Mississippi, said Dan Coleman, the program’s associate director.

Eldridge is the son of Valerie Reynolds of Flora and the late Ricky Eldridge. Bradshaw is the daughter of Michael and Kimberly Bradshaw of Ellisville. Hamilton is the son of Jimmy and Janice Hamilton of Louisville. Witcher is the son of Angela Cook of Ocean Springs and John Witcher of Flowood.

Students are thrilled to receive the scholarships and advance their medical careers. 

The Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholars are required to serve in a clinic-based practice in a community of 20,000 or fewer people. The location must be more than 20 miles from a medically served area. The rural physician scholarship program is housed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

For more information, contact Dan Coleman at 601-815-0564 or http://mrpsp.umc.edu