Humboldt native Noah Johnson has just earned the honor of being accepted into the Scholars in Rural Health Program through the KU School of Medicine.
“It’s kind of been a dream of mine, since I wanted to be in medicine, especially rural medicine,” he said.
Through the program, Johnson will shadow physicians for 200 hours in the two years prior to medical school, as well as work with mentors in the community.
The big payoff? He gets automatic acceptance into medical school.
The program also has the added benefit of making it so that all of Johnson’s medical school experience will basically be free.
No wonder he called the program “a win-win.”
To qualify for the program, students had to be from a rural town, as well as complete “a pretty hefty application process,” that included more than a dozen long-form essays, obtaining letters of recommendation, as well as completing an intense interview session with nine different physicians.
AS for why he’s pursuing a career in medicine, Johnson said “I want to be a doctor because I want to make a difference in rural health care, and give back to the community that gave so much to me.”
“I want to make a difference through connectedness,” he said, and being intimately connected to others is part of why he’s looking forward to working in a rural setting.
“Community values are so important,” Johnson noted. And in rural communities especially, “the fibers that hold the community together are strong.”
He also said he wants to do everything he can to ensure that “patients coming in with a frown don’t leave with a frown,” in particular, by “looking right at them and hearing what they’re saying.”
Johnson wants to be a “source of well-being to patients.”
JOHNSON has just finished his sophomore year at the University of Kansas, where he’s majoring in biology and sign language, while participating in the honors program.
“I do have a big interest in science,” he said. “I love learning about the development of people and how each system works.”
He also has a passion for American Sign Language, and wants to “relate to patients in that respect.”
