Rural Health Students
Rural Training Track (RTT) Technical Assistance Program
The Rural Training Track (RTT) Technical Assistance Program is a three year national demonstration program which began in September 2010. NRHA is currently a lead partner in the cooperative agreement that is supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Office of Rural Health Policy.
A consortium that taps the expertise of individuals and programs distributed across the nation, the Rural Training Track (RTT) Technical Assistance Program is an effort to sustain the RTT residency programs as a national strategy in training physicians for rural practice.
For students interested in learning more about rural training check out these sites supported by the program:
Train Rural: Where the scope is broad and the focus is you
Train Rural blog: Real Stories from Rural Students and Residents
On Facebook®
Other resources:
Rural Residency Training for Family Medicine Physicians: Graduate Early-Career Outcomes
Meet NRHA's Student CG leaders
NRHA's Student Constituency Group is comprised of student members, who are the future workforce and leaders in rural America. As members, students can come together with their peers, educators, administrators, health professionals and other stakeholders to create a dialogue about rural health and related issues such as workforce and policy.
Jenna Kennedy Sloan
Student Constituency Group chair
Jenna Kennedy Sloan is in her second year of medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She grew up on a farm in rural Kansas, so she is familiar with rural areas. Before medical school, she earned her BS in microbiology with a secondary major in natural resources and environmental science from Kansas State University. She staffed the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, where she was formally introduced to the rural health policy world and NRHA. She would like to train in a family medicine residency with obstetrics. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing volleyball, running, biking, camping and playing board games.
Travis Austin
RME liaison
Travis Austin earned a BA and MA in English literature from Brigham Young University, where he finished a master’s thesis on literature and medical case studies in nineteenth-century Britain. He is now a second year medical student at the University of Arizona-Phoenix. Austin has participated in the Rural Health Professions Program, which allowed him to return to his hometown of Snowflake, Ariz. Along with his wife, two-year-old daughter and infant son, Austin looks forward to returning to a rural area to practice medicine.
Aniesa Slack
Student Outreach Coordinator
Aniesa Slack earned a BS in biology and a BA in Spanish language and culture from Emporia State University in 2009. She is in her second year of medical education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Mo. She will spend her third and fourth years in Salina, Kan., participating in the rural track option. Slack plans to participate in medical missions before returning to rural Kansas to practice full-spectrum family medicine and provide care to underserved, non-English speaking Kansans. Slack loves exploring and traveling the world, but her favorite destination is the farm on which she was raised in Oxford, Kan.
Alex Spencer
Student Outreach Coordinator
Alex Spencer is a first-year medical student at the University of Washington and a scholar in the Targeted Rural and Underserved Program. Alex grew up and maintains with strong roots in the rural logging communities surrounding Mt. St. Helens. Prior to medical school he earned an undergraduate degree in Biology as well as a Masters of Business Administration. His early medical interests are Internal, Family, and Emergency medicine. When not studying or promoting rural healthcare, Alex enjoys adventure motorcycling, pottery, and enjoying time with his wife and large family.
David Blackley
Communications Organizer
David Blackley graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor of science degree in zoology. After working for two years in an oncology lab, he attended East Carolina University, earning a master's degree in public health. While at ECU, he interned at the Office of Rural Health Policy. He's currently at East Tennessee State University, finishing his second year of doctoral studies in epidemiology. His research interests include lung cancer, cancer screening and public health in Appalachia.
Katrina Winkler
Student Outreach Coordinator
Katrina is originally from just outside of Richmond, KY. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 2009 with a BS in Biology, and is currently a 3rd year medical student at the University of Kentucky's rural site in Morehead, KY. She plan to pursue a residency in general surgery and then either join or start a practice in her home state. Katrina is interested in rural medicine because she grew up in a smaller community and wanted to serve the types of people that she was surrounded by as a child, particularly those who are do not have adequate access to healthcare. In her free time, Katrina enjoys watching basketball (especially if it involves the University of Kentucky,) being outside, running, fishing and even hunting occasionally.
Audrey Johnson
IT/Media Liaison
Audrey Johnson earned a BA in Spanish Language & Literature from the University of Notre Dame in 2010. She spent a year as a health educator with Americorps in Denver before starting medical school at the University of Arizona. Audrey is going into her second year, pursuing an MD/MPH and is interested in family and community medicine. She is a part of UA's rural health professions program and global health track and hopes to serve in remote, underserved areas in the US and abroad. In her free time she likes to travel, read, and hike.
