Decreasing medical student debt is an important strategy for encouraging more students to enter primary care fields, like family medicine. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, large student loans can make students more likely to choose a higher-paying specialty field rather than primary care. This higher income allows the students to pay off their loan burdens more quickly after residency. Plus, the need to pay off medical-school loan burdens is also likely to cause physicians to pursue practice in more affluent areas, further widening the gap between lower-income populations and access to available physicians.

For the 2023-2024 academic year, the UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine awarded more than $2.34 million in scholarships and stipends to students at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine with a demonstrated interest in primary care.

These new scholarships are part of the department’s goal of offering 100 scholarship opportunities valued at $1.5 million annually for students interested in primary care.