Scholarships for Medical Students
The Doctors for Maine’s Future Scholarship Program aims to alleviate Maine’s shortage of physicians by providing scholarships to eligible medical students. These scholarships help mitigate the cost of a medical education, enabling students to pursue careers in primary care. Many scholarship recipients choose to practice in and serve the health care needs of Maine’s communities.
The program came to fruition in 2009 after Maine’s governor, in association with the Maine Legislature, reserved funds to serve medical programs in Maine. The terms stipulate that every $25,000 offered to students from the State of Maine must be matched by the school through private philanthropy in order to increase the number of scholarships available. In the majority of cases, students receive the scholarship for all four years of their studies totaling $100,000.
Since the program’s inception, generous support of UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) has allowed UNE to receive the maximum amount of matching funds from the State of Maine, providing 58 COM students with scholarships. Of the 30 Doctor’s for Maine’s Future Scholarship recipients who have graduated since the program originated, 57% are working in the primary care fields, and 40% are practicing in emergency medicine, OB-GYN, and psychiatry.
The Doctors for Maine’s Future Scholarship Program makes a significant difference to UNE’s COM students who strive to provide care in communities where it is needed the most.