BOWEN FAMILY MEDICAL SCHOLARSHIP AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS AND RESIDENTS

Supports Marshall County Primary Care Medical Students/Residents to Work in Rural Communities

The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship focuses on meeting the health needs of rural communities by supporting primary-care medical students as they work their way through medical school and residency programs. Setting up a scholarship with the Marshall County Community Foundation is often a labor of love, a way to support a cause that is particularly important to Marshall County communities and those who call this area home. The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship is one such labor of love -- and one that holds promising keys for Marshall County’s health care future.

“Marshall County patients deserve the best health care, and to get that, we need to attract and retain talented primary-care doctors,” said Linda Yoder, Executive Director of the MCCF. “The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship is helping meet a pressing need for our Hoosier rural communities.”

There are almost 7,000 communities around the country with an inadequate number of primary-care providers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In the next decade, the country could be short 95,000 doctors, per a 2016 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The lack of primary-care providers affects urban and suburban areas to a degree, but it's America’s rural communities – like those in Marshall County – that tend to be hit the hardest.

Simply put, Indiana and rural areas like Marshall County need to be creative and proactive in attracting and supporting primary care students as they work their way through medical school and residency training programs. The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship is a unique way to help primary-care practitioner students while in medical school or medical residency programs.

Carol Bowen and the Bowen family established the Bowen Family Medical Scholarship to honor the legacy of care and public service of Dr. Otis Bowen.  Dr. Bowen practiced family medicine in the Bremen community from 1946 through 1972.  He then served as the 44th Governor of Indiana from 1973 to 1981 and as Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1985 to 1989.

The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship will provide one or more annual scholarships to a Marshall County resident accepted into an accredited school of medicine or accepted into a primary care medical residency program to prepare for a career in rural primary care medicine. The Bowen Family Medical Scholarship is renewable annually to previous recipients based upon the successful medical school advance of the recipient and at the discretion of the Scholarship Advisory Committee.

Interested medical students/residents may learn more about the scholarship by visiting the Marshall County Community Foundation website, by calling 574-935-5159 or emailing Jayne@marshallcountycf.org. The Scholarship Advisory Committee is seeking applicants this fall with the intent of awarding a scholarship for the upcoming winter/spring semester.

“Meeting the day-to-day health needs of families in rural communities is a passion for the Bowen family,” said Yoder. “We hope the Bowen Family Medical Scholarship will be the start of something special for Marshall County’s primary-care medical students. This scholarship is a powerful way to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Bowen!”