CU2RE students, faculty and staff during an icebreaker game at orientation.
With orientation last week, medical students of the third and largest cohort of the Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience, or CU2RE, program have officially started their journey toward serving underserved areas of Alabama and beyond.
Run by the Department of Family and Community Medicine and supported by an HRSA grant, the CU2RE program aims to recruit, train and retain primary care physicians committed to serving in medically underserved areas, particularly rural and urban underserved areas of Alabama. The program, which includes programming for medical students, pipeline programming for undergraduate students and support for faculty development and practice transformation, launched in 2020 with a $7.5 million HRSA grant, and received more than $5 million in supplemental funding in both 2021 and 2022.
The CU2RE medical student program spans all four UAB Heersink School of Medicine campuses. The inaugural cohort of eight students is now in their third year of medical school, while the second cohort of 14 students will finish their second year of CU2RE programming this spring.
The new cohort includes 34 participating students. In a new element this year, the CU2RE program will be more closely integrated with the Primary Care Track based at the Tuscaloosa regional campus.
Two thumbs up for a new cohort!
Starting in their first year of medical school, CU2RE students have opportunities for early clinical experiences, one-on-one mentorship with primary care faculty, an immersive summer program, hands-on procedure workshops, educational modules and discussions focused on leadership, cultural competency and other skills, primary care research opportunities and much more. You can read more about current students’ experiences in the program in this Q&A.
The continued expansion of the program is a promising sign of its impact on medical students and on primary care in Alabama, which is facing a severe shortage of primary care physicians. These students, now beginning their medical education journey, will receive the tools they need to launch their careers in primary care, address health care disparities and shortages, and help their communities.