37-144-7 - Identification and recruitment of undergraduate participants; designation of underserved or rural area; applicant qualifications; maximum number of new admissions per year.
§ 37-144-7. Identification and recruitment of undergraduate participants; designation of underserved or rural area; applicant qualifications; maximum number of new admissions per year.
(1) The commission shall develop and implement policies and procedures designed to recruit, identify and enroll undergraduate students who demonstrate necessary interest, commitment, aptitude and academic achievement to pursue careers as family physicians or other generalist physicians in rural or medically underserved areas of Mississippi, and to develop and implement the programs designed to foster successful entry of participants into medical school, completion of medical school, enrollment into and completion of family medicine or other generalist residency, and establishment and maintenance of a career in family medicine or other generalist specialty in a rural or underserved area of Mississippi.
(2) The commission shall have the authority through use of generally applicable definitions, to designate an area of the state as underserved or rural.
(3) The commission, in conjunction with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, shall have the authority to provide students selected for scholarship funding with faculty mentors and other programs designed to enhance the students' likelihood of admission to the medical school. The commission and the University of Mississippi Medical Center will develop coursework that will provide scholarship students with the skills necessary for sustained and successful medical practice in rural Mississippi.
(4) Each applicant for admission to the program must submit an application to the commission that conforms to requirements established by the commission.
(5) In selecting participants for the program, the board may only accept an applicant if his or her academic record and other characteristics, if given consideration by the University of Mississippi School of Medicine Admissions Committee, would be considered credible and competitive.
(6) An applicant for the program may be admitted only upon a majority vote of the members of the commission.
(7) Up to fifteen (15) students will be admitted to the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program each year, beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year.
Sources: Laws, 2007, ch. 554, § 4, eff from and after passage (approved Apr. 20, 2007.)