MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi high school juniors considering medical careers in their home state have the opportunity to take part in an intense summer program at Mississippi State University.

    The five-week Rural Medical Scholars summer program at MSU aims to identify the state’s future primary care doctors and help them become members of the medical school class of 2021.

    “Mississippi continues to have the lowest number of physicians per capita in the nation,” said Bonnie Carew, rural health program leader for MSU’s Extension Service. “Clearly, this limits the state’s residents to access for care and contributes to many of the negative health issues plaguing the state.”

    Carew said the concern for adequate health care increases with a declining number of rural physicians. A goal of the program is to develop a pipeline of future medical providers.

    “The program is clearly meeting the need it was designed to accomplish — increasing the availability of primary care physicians and health care services throughout rural Mississippi,” she said. “To date, 256 students have participated in the RMS program, with most planning health-related careers. Twenty-four of our graduates went on to medical school and 17 of those are practicing physicians today.”

    The program is supported with funds from MSU, the Office of Rural Health at the Mississippi State Department of Health, and the Mississippi Area Health Education Center. Twenty students, between their junior and senior years, with an ACT composite score of at least 25 will take two pre-med courses on the Starkville campus — biology and pre-calculus — and observe doctors at practice from May 30 until July 2.

    The selected scholars will receive tuition, housing and textbooks during the program. A $60 registration fee is required after acceptance and the scholars will be responsible for their food expenses. Applications must be submitted by March 21. Applications and program details are available online at http://www.RMS.msucares.com.

    Also this summer young women interested in wildlife, fisheries and natural science careers can apply for the second annual discovery day to be held at Mississippi State University.

    The Conservation Careers Discovery Day will begin at 4 p.m. March 30 and conclude at 6 p.m. March 31. Participants will learn outdoor skills such as GPS orienteering, canoeing, and plant and wildlife identification. This year, a camp-out and campfire chat with experienced professionals and scientists have been added.

    Participation is free for students in grades 9-12, but applications are required. Interested female students are asked to write a 200-word paragraph about why they want to attend. Send the paragraph to: Discovery Day, attn: Leslie Burger, Box 9690, Mississippi State, MS 39762 or e-mail it to lburger@cfr.msstate.edu. With the application, include name, school, grade, T-shirt size and contact information, including e-mail address. The deadline to apply is March 15. Limited travel scholarships are available based on need.

    The event is hosted and staffed by the Mississippi Women in Natural Resources, an organization of female professionals working in natural science fields. The discovery day is sponsored by the MSU Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, the MSU Extension Service, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

    For more information, contact Burger at (662) 325-6686.