SUWANEE — Georgia Campus–Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) is helping initiate a new Pathway to Med School Program developed by Foothills Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Joining the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, Suwanee-based GA-PCOM collaborates as one of the program’s medical school affiliates. Foothills AHEC’s summer program aims to encourage prospective medical students to return to northeast Georgia to practice medicine once they become doctors.
Modeled after Southwest Georgia AHEC’s long-established program, Foothills AHEC’s Pathway to Med School Program is a 160-hour structured residential experience where students will participate in clinical shadowing, practice-based community research and gain mentoring from local physicians and direct instruction on applying to medical school. GA-PCOM, which offers a number of health-related programs, will host the students on July 14 as one of the program’s medical school campus visits.
The Pathway to Med School Program is geared specifically toward undergraduate, pre-med college students in northeast Georgia who are interested in becoming generalist physicians. Generalist physicians complete broad training in specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN and general surgery. The four-week program, which began July 6 and concludes July 31, will is aimed at enhancing students’ understanding of the medical profession, offer experiences that will increase their chance of acceptance into medical school and provide exposure to generalist physician practice and the medical community.
