Addison Meadows, Oxford native and second-year medical student, was recently awarded the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship for the second year at the annual scholarship ceremony in Jackson for her medical training at the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Meadows is the daughter of Lori and Scott Meadows. The scholarship was presented by Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program Commission Member Emeritus Dr. Lucius Lampton.

Created in 2007, the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program (MRPSP) is designed to provide more primary care physicians in rural areas of Mississippi. During medical school, each MRPSP scholar receives $35,000 per year based on available funding. Consistent legislative support of the MRPSP translates to 62 medical students receiving a total of $2,170,000 to support their education this fall.

In addition to legislative support, three privately funded scholarships are also awarded this year from the Madison Charitable Foundation, the Selby and Richard McRae Foundation, and the Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi. Other benefits include personalized mentoring from practicing rural physicians and academic support.

Upon completion of medical school, MRPSP scholars must enter a residency program in one of six primary care specialties: family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatrics, medicine-pediatrics, psychiatry or obstetrics/gynecology. The MRPSP Scholar must provide four years of service in a clinic-based practice in an approved Mississippi community of 15,000 or fewer population located more than 20 miles from a medically served area.

MRPSP provides a means for rural Mississippi students to earn a seat in medical school and to earn a $140,000 medical school scholarship in return for four years of service and learn the art of healing from practicing rural physicians.

For more information, contact MRPSP Associate Director Steven Carter at 601-815-9022, jscarter@umc.edu or www.umc.edu/mrpsp.