By Gary Lloyd
Chelsea Clark of Pinson and Hannah Zahedi of Trussville recently completed the eight-week Huntsville Rural Pre-medical Internship of the UAB School of Medicine at the Huntsville Regional Medical Campus.
This program provides selected pre-medical students from rural areas with a broad exposure to medicine that hopefully inspires them to careers as physicians practicing in rural Alabama.
Clark, 20, is a junior at Auburn University majoring in biomedical sciences. She is the daughter of Kimberly and Robert Clark. As part of the internship, Clark spent three weeks shadowing Dr. Barry McCleney, a family medicine physician in Springville.
Zahedi, 19, is a junior at the University of Alabama majoring in biology. Her parents are Dawn and Michael Zahedi. She shadowed Dr. Shane Lee of Marion.
The experience centered on the interns spending 150 hours shadowing and learning from physicians and other medical professionals at UAB School of Medicine–Huntsville, as well as private physicians.
They also attended 40 lectures on a variety of subjects ranging from on-the-job injuries to hospice care as well as field trips, including visits to a chicken processing plant and a rural hospital.
The Huntsville Rural Pre-medical Internship program is offered every summer at the UAB School of Medicine Huntsville Rural Medicine Campus. Eligible students must be from rural or small-town areas of Alabama, have completed at least their sophomore year of college by the time the internship begins and have a demonstrated interest in becoming a physician.
Interested students can learn more about this program by emailing Paula Clawson at pclawson@uab.edu.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.