Over the course of four years, one Honors College class and its students have helped thousands of people across the state of Alabama. Medicine and Community is a year-long course at The University of Alabama designed to give pre-med students real-world experience and get them on the right track for medical school.

The two-credit hour per semester course offers hands-on experiences, one-on-one training with doctors and patients, and the opportunity to listen to various speakers who work within the field of medicine.

“Medicine and Community provides experience and insight that would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain otherwise,” Andrew Davis, a student currently in the course, said. “We work in four-week blocks and rotate through parts of the course that include shadowing physicians, volunteering at a hypertension clinic in Marion, and working on an independent research assignment.”

The course has a one-hour lecture section and a mandatory four hours of hands-on experiences each week. The hypertension clinic where the students work is in Marion County, which is a part of Alabama’s Black Belt region.

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“The hands-on experience of Medicine and Community helps students decide whether becoming a physician and having others put their trust in you is something they would like to pursue as a career,” Davis said. “For those further along in that decision-making process, Medicine and Community helps to decide which area of medicine feels comfortable and which they might like to strive for once in medical school.”

Hannah Zahedi, a junior majoring in biology, said areas like Marion County are where courses like this are needed.

“You get to work one-on-one with patients who really want to listen and take your advice and you learn how to communicate better with patients,” Zahedi said. “This course gives you volunteer hours, shadowing opportunities and helps you understand the role of different medical positions.”

The course has seen growth in participation and interest every year it has been offered. Students who have been accepted into this course have a 100 percent acceptance rate into medical programs around the country and one of the first students to take this course is now in his third year at Harvard. While this course could potentially put students on the fast track to medical school, it also has a very strict selection process. There are 12 students enrolled in the current class, but the class size will shrink to seven to nine next year.

“Last year, the program had 42 applicants,” Zahedi said.

With applications only being open for less than a week so far this year, they have already had two people apply.

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Ashley Gilchrist, a junior majoring in biology, applied to be in the program this fall and said she is excited at the possibility of being accepted.

“I think it will serve as a building block in my journey to become a good doctor. I will be able to gain valuable experience in health care, volunteering and shadowing through the multiple opportunities the class offers. You get to learn about the many roles doctors play, especially in rural communities,” Gilchrist said.

The application process consists of an online application, which includes the student’s general information plus a couple of essay questions. Once that is submitted, if chosen, the student will go through an interview to ultimately decide if the student is accepted into the class or not. The class is a two-semester requirement, so students accepted in the fall also take it in the spring as well.

Students who are interested in learning more about the class and what it offers are encouraged to go to honors.ua.edu/medicineandcommunity to get more information and apply.

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