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Kansas City University and community college leaders sign commemorative poster featuring partners of the Rural Health Scholars program. Photo credit: Kansas City University.
Posted July 28, 2025
Kansas City University is launching a new Rural Health Scholars program to help fast-track students from medically underserved counties to osteopathic physicians or dentists.
The program is designed to help students in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas thanks to eight participating community colleges. The track enables qualifying students to earn a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree in seven years—a year earlier than the traditional route, according to a release.
In addition to the eight community colleges, the program is in collaboration with Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) in Joplin, Missouri and Pittsburg State University (PSU) in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Students will first complete their first year of undergraduate coursework, then transfer to MSSU or PSU for their second and third years. After their second year, students will go through an interview process for early admission to KCU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine or College of Dental Medicine. Students accepted into the program complete their third year at MSSU or PSU before transitioning to KCU for four years of medical or dental school.
KCU stated in its release that nearly 65% of primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas are in rural regions, and less than 12% of physicians practice there. Meanwhile, nearly 67 percent of dental shortage areas are located in rural America, where many communities have fewer than five dentists per 10,000 residents.
Kansas requires an estimated 113 additional physicians and more than 50 dentists to meet current health care needs, while Missouri faces a deficit of 500 primary care physicians and close to 350 dentists, according to the release.
“This effort is unique in its scope, bringing together eight community colleges across three states, two state universities in two additional states and a private, not-for-profit health sciences university—all united by a common goal to increase access to medical and dental education and improve health in the rural communities we collectively serve,” vice president of KCU’s Joplin campus, Dr. Richard Schooler, said in the release.
Participating community colleges include:
In May, KCU received a $20 million to expand its facilities in Kansas City and Joplin as a gift donation from the estate of Dr. Paul Dybedal and Mary Louise Dybedal.
