JACKSON — Katelyn Brock, Vicksburg native and a graduate of St. Aloysius and Mississippi College, was recently awarded the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship valued at $30,000 per year for her medical training at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine at the annual scholarship ceremony. Brock is the daughter of Carl and Jane Brock.

Created in 2007, the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program is designed to provide more primary care physicians in rural areas of Mississippi.

During medical school, each MRPSP scholar receives $30,000 per year based on available funding.

Consistent legislative support of the MRPSP translates to 61 medical students receiving a total of $1,830,000 to support their education this fall. In addition to the legislative support, three privately-funded scholarships are also awarded this year from the Madison Charitable Foundation, the Selby and Richard McRae Foundation, and the Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi.

Other benefits include personalized mentoring from practicing rural physicians and academic support.

Upon completion of medical school, MRPSP scholars must enter a residency program in one of five primary care specialties: family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatrics, medicine-pediatrics or obstetrics/gynecology.

The MRPSP Scholar must provide four years of service in a clinic-based practice in an approved Mississippi community of 15,000 or fewer population located more than 20 miles from a medically served area.

MRPSP provides a means for rural Mississippi students to earn a seat in medical school and to earn a $120,000 medical school scholarship in return for four years of service and learn the art of healing from practicing rural physicians.