TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION
New programs developed to train primary care physicians to practice in Ohio are coming to fruition, and our people and programs are earning
national attention. Faculty and staff are laying the groundwork for curricular transformation that will prepare our newest physicians for practice
and leadership in dynamic, quickly changing health care environments.
PROVIDING CARE
WHERE IT’S MOST
NEEDED
Our three-year-old Rural and Urban Scholars Pathways program reached a milestone,
celebrating its first graduates who all share a common goal: to increase access to health care,
reduce health disparities and promote health in rural and underserved communities. Two
RUSP graduates received Osteopathic Heritage Foundation-funded scholarships based on
their match to primary care training programs in Ohio. RUSP expanded from the inaugural 21
students to a total of 84 for 2016-2017, with students representing all years of undergraduate
medical education and spanning all three Heritage College campuses and 10 hospitals in our
clinical training network.
Assistant Dean of Rural and Underserved Programs Randy Longenecker, M.D., now serves
as associate project director of Rural PREP (Primary care Research, Education and Practice),
a national collaborative intended to strengthen research in health professions education
in creating a primary care workforce for rural communities. Longenecker is co-leading the
collaborative along with Davis Patterson, Ph.D., from the University of Washington, who
received a five-year, $3.7 million Academic Unit Primary Care Training and Enhancement grant
from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce.
As a result of their interactions with our Office of Rural and Underserved Program, the Ohio
Departments of Health and Higher Education have adopted our definition of primary care,
“The Five C’s,” as the functional definition of primary care for the State of Ohio.
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