Program Recognition
The Rural and Underserved Utah Training Experience & Regional Affairs (RUUTE)
The RUUTE Program is focused on rural and underserved medical education. The mission of the RUUTE program is to ultimately improve medical education and training, health care access, and long-term socio- economic benefit for rural and underserved communities of Utah and the surrounding States of Idaho, Montana, & Wyoming by expanding interest, awareness, and placement of students and physicians. The RUUTE program has also aligned with the goals of the School of Medicine’s Exceptional Learning Experience (ELE) to promote professionalism, community, and meaningful relationships. RUUTE’s learning experiences for medical students include elective coursework, rural speaker series, k-12 outreach efforts, student interest groups, rural and underserved clerkship rotations, and funded research opportunities. Funded research opportunities are available to all UUSOM students, but oriented towards students who are from rural or underserved backgrounds, or projects that can potentially benefit rural and underserved communities.
The University of Utah Summer Medical School Student Research Program (MSRP)
The University of Utah Summer Medical School Student Research Program originated in 1992 with the assistance of a Short-Term Training Grant from the National Institutes for Health (NIH). The goals of this program are to create and foster research opportunities for Medical Students.
The Medical Student Research Program (MSRP) has also provided a pathway for many outstanding medical students to join the MD-PhD Program after their second year of medical school. These are students that knew they wanted to be trained as a physician, but after participating in the MSRP, realized they also wanted to develop their training as a scientist.
The Medical Student Research Program has mentored over 500 medicalstudents, some of whom have completed their residency training and returned to the University of Utah School of Medicine and mentored medical students.
