GAR Foundation has awarded Northeast Ohio Medical University $80,000 to establish a program that will identify and prepare residents in Summit County for a health care workforce that reflects their communities.
The Pipeline-to-Practice program is designed to increase and diversify community representation in a range of healthcare professions, such as medicine, pharmacy and public health. To this end, NEOMED will work with the Akron Public Schools, local universities, city and county government, regional health systems and the business community.
The pipeline will build on five key pillars:
- Partnerships to train students within the community who will then return to serve the community
- Specialized instruction in public health and population health
- Service learning in underserved areas of Akron and Summit County
- Interprofessional education
- Service-focused scholarships to remove barriers to higher education
The long-term goal of the program is to increase diversity in the health care workforce and reduce health disparities in the Akron community.