MU School of Medicine Receives $16M To Address Physician Shortage In Missouri

Posted October 9, 2023

The University of Missouri’s School of Medicine was awarded a $16 million federal grant to support the state’s healthcare facilities to serve rural areas of Missouri.

“Our Rural Scholars Program exemplifies our strong commitment to rural health care by training and placing physicians in rural communities,” executive vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, Richard J. Barohn said in a release. “It reflects the responsibility we feel to address health challenges in underserved communities and is one of the many ways we’re saving and improving lives in every part of Missouri.”

The awarded, Health Resources and Services Administration grant aims to address the primary care physician shortages and maldistribution in rural Missouri, according to the release.

Created in 1995, the University of Missouri School of Medicine’s Rural Scholars Program works to get more doctors in these rural areas through several programs including the Bryant Scholars Pre-Admissions Program, Summer Community Program, Rural Elective Program, Rural Immersion Program and Clinical Rural Immersion Program.

Since starting the Rural Scholars Program, nearly 50 percent of medical school students admitted through the Bryant Scholars program at MU are now practicing as physicians in rural Missouri and 43 percent are primary care doctors, according to the release.

View the full release, here.