Benjamin Rush Institute
Grant Details
Medical Student Conference Scholarships
Following the strong success of the BRI conference scholarship program expansion during the 2016-2017 academic year, BRI looks forward to growing this program in the spring and fall semesters of 2018 to meet the increased demand among students for this type of program. Specifically, we anticipate providing scholarships to at least 60 medical students that will cover transportation, lodging, and registration fees for more than ten different conferences. These scholarships offer medical students an opportunity to learn about important issues in healthcare policy as well as gain exposure to entrepreneurs doing innovative work in healthcare practice. More than that, however, they fill a critical gap in medical school student education—the lack of adequate instruction in healthcare policy.
Through lectures, debates, and other programming, BRI provides medical students a much-needed education in healthcare policy. Our conference scholarship program is intended to supplement our existing programming and offer students a broader range of policy issues and perspectives to explore. It also encourages students to learn about professional medical associations, network with practicing physicians, and discover how they can engage the policy process in their future careers.
The fundamentals of the program will remain the same over the next year, though BRI looks forward to incorporating improvements based on lessons we learned from last year. Students will apply for scholarships and, if awarded, will be required to complete a blog post reflecting on their experience at the conference and the lessons they learned. They will also be encouraged to share these lessons on their campus through hosting a public event on a topic related to the conference they attended. Like last year, BRI has identified a number of conferences we will provide scholarships for, but we will also encourage students to identify conferences they would be interested in and approach us for support. In this way, we will offer students a broad range of topics and perspectives to consider.