Northeast Iowa AHEC Participant Receives Rural Medicine Scholarship

June 28th, 2010

University of Northern Iowa graduate Libby Abbas was one of six incoming medical students selected to receive Des Moines University's Rural Medicine Educational Pathway (RMEP) scholarship. The full-tuition scholarship is awarded annually to first-year osteopathic medical students who are interested in practicing in rural Iowa. In exchange for four years of tuition, scholarship recipients commit to working in a rural, underserved community for four years after their medical residency.

Libby learned about the scholarship opportunity when Northeast Iowa AHEC spoke to her pre-medical club. After hearing about AHEC and their partnership with Des Moines University, she visited the DMU campus and began building her experience in the medical field by participating in the job shadow and volunteer programs provided by Northeast Iowa AHEC.

Born in California, but raised on a farm near New Hampton, Iowa, Libby plans on becoming a family doctor in a small Iowa community like the one she grew up in. She experienced firsthand the serious accidents that occur in a farming community and the hard work of the local physicians to treat farm-related injuries. Her goal after medical school is to move back to the farm and become a physician, role model, community organizer and volunteer in her rural town.

Read more about Libby, her involvement with AHEC and why she wants to become a rural doctor.

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