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and beginning to offer tuition relief to qualified medicine students in exchange for service to underserved communities following graduation. ���The average medicine student graduates with about $150,000 in student loan debt. By providing Education for Service scholarships to relieve some of this debt, we���re making medical school a reality for some students who may not otherwise have considered a career in health care due to financial barriers,��� says Dr. Gershen. ���At the same time, we���re increasing workforce diversity and improving access to care by ensuring that the healthcare workforce is representative of the patients that are served.��� Scholarship funds for the Education for Service initiative are currently being raised from individual donations, local foundations, health systems and businesses. To date, pledges and actual gifts have reached about $2 million. Because scholarship recipients will remain in the community and continue to give back as practicing physicians, the initial response from business and healthcare leaders, community foundations and other local funding sources has been positive, according to Dr. Gershen. ���An average primary care physician earns about $175,000 a year and generates about $1 million annually in economic activity, including hiring nurses and other healthcare professionals, and buying goods and services. When you multiply this by five years, it���s easy to see the impact that each primary care physician can have on the local economy,��� he says. In addition, quality healthcare services attract other businesses, residents and development to communities, further serving as a catalyst for economic growth. The Education for Service initiative has been named a national priority program by the Sullivan Alliance to Transform America���s Health Professions. Formed under the leadership of former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan, MD, the Sullivan Alliance aims to increase the diversity of the healthcare workforce and reduce disparities in healthcare access among diverse populations. (L-R) Erik Porfeli, MEd, PhD, assistant dean of Community Engagement and Admissions in the College of Medicine, and Jeffrey L. Susman, MD, dean of the College of Medicine, are excited about NEOMED���s $130 million campus expansion project which includes a new research and graduate education building, residential housing village and health and wellness complex. The Partnership for Urban Health A lead project of the Education for Service initiative is the Partnership for Urban Health, a collaborative effort between NEOMED and Cleveland State University (CSU) that is implementing a new and distinct model for providing medical education. The NEOMED-CSU Partnership for Urban Health incorporates: + Pipeline programs to identify students at the middle school and high school levels who have the interest and academic ability to pursue healthcare careers + A new and innovative interprofessional curriculum focused on urban health, community engagement and support + A c o m mu n it y b a s e d m e nt o rship program ���We have created a new model for training physicians to work as part of interprofessional teams, which we believe will be groundbreaking in providing holistic, coordinated care,��� says Jeffrey L. Susman, MD, dean of NEOMED���s College of Medicine. The curriculum also focuses on public health issues and health disparities, including the social determinants that affect health, which are not typically part of traditional medicine training. ���For example, when you take a health issue like obesity, the usual recommendation is to eat healthy foods and exercise, but our model also addresses the underlying root causes, such as limited access to grocery stores and healthy food options, or unsafe neighborhoods which make outdoor exercise difficult,��� says Dr. Susman. For many of the young people living in underserved neighborhoods in Cleveland, JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2013 ��� MDNEWS.COM ��� MD News Cleveland/Akron/Canton | 31