Rural Medicine Education Symposium

By: Rakesh Patel

The School of Medicine’s IMPACT the RACE program hosted its fourth annual rural medicine education symposium titled “The Rural Impact 2025.” This CME event was held at the Westin Jackson on January 31– February 1 and was available at no cost for attendees. 

The event started on Friday evening where nineteen School of Medicine students were awarded a one year “full cost of attendance” scholarship, valued around $80,000.  These students have pledged to practice primary care in a rural Mississippi community after completing their residency training.  Scholarship awardees were selected based on an application showcasing their desire for rural primary care, as well as engagement in rural clinical training and community service throughout the year.  The 19 scholarship recipients are Shakyra Beasley, Sarah Grace Brownlee, Natasha Burrell, Madison Burton, Cameron Cloud (unable to attend the ceremony), Meredith Cooper, Michael Aaron Goldman, Brooklyn Howe, Alea Jones, Madison Klim, Taylor Lampkin, Caleb McCreary, Jerrian Reedy, Thomas Easton Sheffield, Sara Lynn Sligh, Lauren Sumrall, Ashton Swader, Ann Truong and Claire Wilbanks. Two current rural physicians, Dr. Daulton Newman and Dr. Ben Lambert, spoke at the scholarship ceremony and offered their words of wisdom to the scholarship recipients.  The ceremony was followed by a reception and research poster presentation by SOM students. 

The symposium continued on Saturday with plenary sessions focused on various aspects of health care in rural communities.  This included talks on managing chronic disease in rural areas and maternal care in the Mississippi Delta.  Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic and attendees were shown how it can be used to improve patient care.  A session was devoted to the challenges health system leaders face in rural areas.  Finally, the day was wrapped up by a talk exploring the ways that medical education can be connected with rural medical practice. 

In the coming weeks, a recording of the symposium will be available through the UMMC Continuing Health Professional Education website for no charge.  To access this recording, please log into CE central and search for “The Rural Impact Symposium” or email impacttherace@umc.edu.