SAVANNAH – Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) second-year Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) student Alexis Strahan was recently selected as an Anne C. Carter Global Health Fellow by the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA).
The two-year fellowship is awarded to only four AMWA student members each year.
“The AMWA Anne C. Carter Fellowship Award selection of MUSM student Alexis Strahan is a wonderful recognition of an incredibly talented young woman,” said Jean R. Sumner, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine. “Alexis has committed her life and work to those in the most need. Her goals, desire to serve others and concern for those who need care reflect the mission of the Mercer University School of Medicine. Alexis is a deserving recipient of this important award.”
The fellowship program’s first year includes curriculum, mentorship and planning of a local service project, while the second year focuses on in-depth planning and preparation for an international service-learning trip. Throughout the two-year fellowship, selected students also serve on the AMWA Global Health Committee.
Strahan previously earned her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in kinesiology from Mississippi State University and Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN-FNP) from Vanderbilt University. She practiced as an FNP prior to enrolling in MUSM.
“I’m proud of the way MUSM trains us to be the next generation of physicians who will step up to the task of meeting the needs of communities who need us the most,” said Strahan. “I am honored to have received the Anne C. Carter Global Health fellowship and look forward to applying what I learn to bridge the health care gaps that exist in our state, nation and across the globe.”
Strahan’s interests include global health, underserved medicine and interprofessional teamwork.
“I know without a doubt that my career will be spent serving those who otherwise would not have adequate access to care,” she said. “I’ve seen the complexity of medical needs as up close in my local community while working at one of Savannah’s federally qualified health centers and as far away as the mountain villages in Eastern Uganda. These experiences have irrevocably shaped my ideas and interests in medicine. The basic critical importance of access to adequate medical education and health care is the same regardless of where your patient population may call home.”
The American Medical Women’s Association is the oldest multispecialty organization dedicated to advancing women in medicine and improving women’s health. Membership includes physicians, residents, medical students, pre-medical students, health care professionals and supporters.
About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah and Columbus)
Mercer University’s School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened a full four-year campus in Savannah in 2008 at Memorial University Medical Center. In 2012, the School began offering clinical education for third- and fourth-year medical students in Columbus. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Medical Center, Navicent Health in Macon; Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah; and Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The School also offers master’s degrees in family therapy, preclinical sciences and biomedical sciences and a Ph.D. in rural health sciences.
