Doctors are needed everywhere — but especially in rural and historically underserved populations.
A recent symposium at Washington State University brought together hundreds of students interested in providing health care to those communities.
Samm Hoptowit, a Running Start student, said he hopes to go into general surgery.
Hoptowit is considering WSU, along with his mom’s alma matter, the University of Minnesota, because of the scholarships it offers for Native American people. Hoptowit’s mom is a physician and he said her rotation in surgery inspired his career aspirations.
“ I think that many Native communities are really underserved, the reservations and stuff. I really wanna look at volunteering in places like that,” Hoptowit said.
Approximately 300 students attended the event, which included a live suturing workshop, research showcase, and panels to learn about different career pathways in health care.
The hands-on clinical workshops are central to increasing access to students from rural and underserved communities, said Abdelrahman Abdelrazek, a WSU student and founder of the Premed Advisory Program.
“This focus is personally meaningful to me,” he said in an email to NWPB. “I grew up in a rural village in Egypt and later in Pullman, and those experiences have shaped how I think about access to healthcare and opportunity.”
