Rural Community Health Program

MSU College of Human Medicine’s Rural Community Health Program program offers a comprehensive certificate training program, the Rural Community Health Program (R-CHP). The R-CHP program is designed to prepare future rural physicians for working in community-based health networks. The Midland Regional Campus is one of two campuses hosting R-CHP students in the state of Michigan.

Students selected for the R-CHP program spend time living and working in both their home campus (Midland) and their assigned rural region during their third and fourth years of medical school. Their rural region consists of a rural hospital, the surrounding medical community and the county health department.

Rural educational sites associated with the Midland Regional Campus include several in the central Michigan area, the Thumb area and as far north as the Straits of Mackinac.

During the first two years of the MSU Shared Discovery Curriculum, students enrolled in the R-CHP certificate program are either at MSU’s East Lansing or Grand Rapids campus. They attend Rural Leadership Seminars, held twice per semester, fostering an early connection to the Midland Regional Campus Team and interaction with fellow R-CHP classmates.

The seminars host speakers who have worked in rural communities to help students learn about the rewards and challenges of practicing rural medicine.

During years three and four, R-CHP students participate in a hands-on experiential curriculum that emphasizes procedural training, community involvement, public health experiences and leadership exposure. A hallmark of the program are rural electives tailored to each student’s anticipated career path. Additional required course time and electives can be done in these

R-CHP regions or in other communities nationally or internationally.