“Students who are accepted to the program spend their clinical years at medical school — their third or fourth years with the College of Human Medicine — working at MSU campuses in one of these locations,” Wendling said. “It’s a track for medical students interested in rural health, in any specialty.”

Students also will be working with local medical communities and the public health departments of their chosen city.

“The Rural Community Health Program builds upon the core strengths of our college’s history of community-focused programs for underserved populations in Northern Michigan,” MSU College of Human Medicine Dean Marsha Rappley said in a statement.

In the program’s first year, third- and fourth-year students began work this past July. Eventually, students will be admitted at the time of normal admission, Wendling said, and students will be able to choose between work in the Upper or Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.

There are six students at three sites right now, with the goal to have two students from each class assigned to each rural site, which offers aspiring doctors a more unique experience.

MSU also has rural partnerships for premedical students in Midland and Traverse City, and the College of Human Medicine has a long history in strengthening rural medicine in the Upper Peninsula — the college has been training medical students in the Upper Peninsula since 1974.

“There is a shortage of physicians in rural areas and it’s something we’ve known about it for more than 80 years,” Wendling said. “We’re trying to help with the shortage in Michigan. That’s our goal.”

About 24 students out of a class of 200 are accepted to rural health programs.
Although it seems like a small number, more than 10 percent of a graduating class involved in rural medicine statewide is a positive number, Wendling said.

“That’s one thing that draws students to rural programs. They have the site to themselves and can gain more experience,” she said.

Third-year human medicine student Dan Hanba started the program in Charlevoix this summer, and said growing up in a small town helped influence his decision.

“A lot of people talk about the shortage of physicians in urban areas, but there are actually fewer positions in rural areas,” said. “It’s hard for people to get health care at times, even just with driving distances.”