The Rural Health Scholarly Concentration offers students an opportunity to learn and engage with rural communities through public health research. The didactic coursework teaches students about community and behavioral public health issues and methods, preparing students for their scholarly concentration research project. The coursework and project are designed to prepare medical students for engaging with unique health issues faced by rural populations.
Location
This concentration is only open to students at the Terre Haute campus. All concentration requirements can be completed online. The scholarly project work can occur in any rural community.
Curriculum and Timeline
Students completing the Rural Health concentration fulfill the same core curriculum as students in other concentrations, with two topic-specific courses in the summer and one in the fall. The didactic components provide a strong academic foundation in public health with a focus on rural health that supports completion of the core curriculum project and product. The journal club provides a platform for students to have discussions about concentration-related topics with a cohort of students and faculty.
Students interested in doing both the Rural Health Scholarly Concentration and IMPRS program should consider choosing an IMPRS project from the "Community Health Partnership and Education" track if they would like an IMPRS project that could more easily become their scholarly concentration project. This concentration permits students to do summer clinical work or other programs simultaneously with the Scholarly Concentration. Contact the co-directors listed below for more information.