PoliticalNews.me - Jul 06,2010 - (From PoliticalNews.me)
Washington - U.S. Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln and U.S. Representative Vic Snyder (AR-02) today announced that the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock will receive a $246,598 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide scholarships for low-income and minority medical students. The Recovery Act is funding $98,092 of the total award for UAMS.
The College of Medicine will receive $120,877 in regular HHS funding and $79,842 in Recovery Act funding for scholarships to medical students. In addition, the College of Health-Related Professions will receive $27,629 in regular HHS funding and $18,250 in Recovery Act funding for its medical technology program, which prepares students for careers as medical technologists who do laboratory work.
“These funds will benefit Arkansas’s aspiring doctors and medical workers by helping them afford their education,” Lincoln said. “Many of Arkansas’s rural communities are medically underserved, so this investment to help additional medical students graduate in Arkansas is good news for the well-being of our state. I will continue fighting to improve the quality of health care and expand access to higher education in Arkansas.”
“Nurses and other health professionals are vital to a community’s well-being, but are often lacking in rural areas. These funds will help more of Arkansas’s students enter the health care profession and fill much-needed positions,” Pryor said.
“I am pleased to see UAMS receive this funding to provide more students the opportunity to get a medical education and help strengthen these professions especially now when there are shortages- a time when it is most needed,” Snyder said.
“Our average medical school student graduates with a little more than $125,000 in debt, so I am glad that these scholarships will help minimize their education indebtedness,” said Tom South, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at UAMS. “More funding for scholarships will also help us recruit the best and brightest from our state.”
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