Four MC Students Receive Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarships

Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program (MRPSP) Medical Encounters I Group Photo Front row: Kang-Lin Tsai, Tupelo; Dannya Spradley, Laurel; Chelsie Wright, Pearl; Kacie Harris, Tupelo; 2nd row: Helen Turner, Jackson; Marika Zarafyan, McComb; Meghan Johnson, Lena; Tameka Carmichael, Pachuta; 3rd row: William Meruvia, Philadelphia; Logan Ramsey, Pontotoc; Back row: Casey Stanford, Gautier; Hunter McLendon, Hernando; Ethan Collier, Belmont; Sonny Hodge, Taylorsville; Not pictured: Sosa Adah, Clinton; Joie Boyles, Lucedale; Griffin Metcalf, Anguilla.

Four Mississippi College students were named to join the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program that opens the door for them to be awarded up to $30,000 annually to attend medical school.

Created by the Mississippi Legislature in 2007, the program identifies exceptional college students who demonstrate the commitment and classroom skills to become competent physicians in rural areas of the Magnolia State.

The state’s healthcare needs are vast. Mississippi’s rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity are among the worst in the nation.

The program offers two years of undergraduate academic enrichment, including the Medical College Admission Test, preparation and clinical experience in a rural setting. Upon completing all the requirements, the students will be admitted to the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

The students selected from Mississippi College are senior Sonny Hodge II, a Taylorsville native, and May 2013 graduate Helen Turner, a Jackson native. Also chosen are: Marika Zarafyan, a junior from McComb, and Samuel Griffin Metcalf, an MC junior who’s a native of Anguilla.

Leading the Mississippi institutions there were five students selected from the University of Mississippi, with Mississippi College supplying the second highest total with four undergraduates chosen.

The scholarship “helps them solidify their careers,” said Dr. Wahnee Sherman, the program director.

During medical school, each medical scholar may receive $30,000 per year. About 50 medical students will receive a total of $1.5 million to support their education at UMC this fall.

After completing their studies at UMC in Jackson via the scholarship program, the new grads must devote four years of service to underserved regions in rural Mississippi.

The program began with ten students in 2008-2009 and doubled the next year.

For more information, contact the program’s executive director, Dr. Wahnee Sherman, at 601.815.9022 or wsherman@umc.edu or http://mrpsp.umc.edu.