Emporia State University and Newman Regional Health are enhancing an existing partnership with a new program beginning next year.
The Summer Experience for students in Emporia State’s pre-med fellowship program will give students experience in the field before they get their degrees. This kind of experience is becoming critical for students, according to ESU Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences Brent Thomas.
Newman Regional Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alana Longwell agrees. She says the program was intentionally designed to give students an introduction into as many fields as possible.
Both Thomas and Longwell appeared on KVOE’s ESU Buzz on Thursday to explain the Summer Experience and its connection to the existing pre-med fellowship program on campus. Students will have a paid clinical internship with Newman Regional Health and Newman Physicians Group. They will be paired with a physician mentor for 120 hours of shadowing through the summer. Two weeks will be spent on family medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine. Another two weeks will be spent in the emergency room, labor and delivery, the hospitalist program and ancillary care. Two weeks will be spent in surgery, cardiology and orthopedic medicine.
This builds off the original program, which launched in 2019 through the generosity of several Emporia State alums in the medical field. It gives incoming freshmen a four-year, $10,000 total fellowship award if they remain in the pre-med education track, either as a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy, and maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0. Students must also graduate from a Kansas high school to be eligible. Students apply for the awards, and there are currently pre-med fellows on campus — Kinzie Underwood from Wamego, Amaya Svenblad of Salina, Trent Voth of Derby and Ian Watson of Emporia.
Applications for the fellowship are available now through Dec. 1. Click here for a link to more information about the program.
