IU Med Students Placed in Family Medicine Clerkships

INDIANAPOLIS – Thirty-four Indiana University School of Medicine first-year students are gaining real world knowledge and exposure this summer for their future by working with primary-care physicians throughout Indiana. As part of the 2005 Primary Care Scholars’ Consortium program, the students will spend eight weeks with a family physician in an Indiana area designated as medically underserved by the Indiana State Department of Health.

Currently, 63 of Indiana’s 92 counties are designated as a health professional shortage area (HPSA) or as a medically underserved area (MUA). The Primary Care Scholars’ Consortium program was designed to combat this shortage.
Consortium members include the Cinergy Foundation, Deaconess Hospital Family Practice Residency Program, Fort Wayne Center for Medical Education, the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians, the Midwest Center for Rural Health, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, and the IU School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine.

Students are matched with physicians practicing in community-based Indiana clinics. The IU School of Medicine hopes that the eight-week program will positively influence career choice and practice environments, improving both the supply and distribution of primary care physicians throughout Indiana.

The consortium offers IU medical students the opportunity to train with primary care physicians in these underserved areas. Each student receives a stipend funded by program sponsors.
The Consortium, with its seven primary-care summer internships, was formed in 1999 and is coordinated by the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine.

Media Contact: Meghan Freeman
(317) 274-7722
mfreeman@iupui.edu

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