Carrie Freeman

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Carrie Freeman of Samantha has been named a University of Alabama Rural Medical Scholar.

The Rural Medical Scholars Program was established to address the crisis in rural areas where there is a severe shortage of primary care physicians.

Students chosen for the UA Rural Medical Scholars Program receive early acceptance to the University of Alabama School of Medicine (UASOM) and complete the first two years of medical school in Birmingham. They return to the UA College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS) in Tuscaloosa, a branch campus of UASOM, for clinical training in their third and fourth years of medical school.

Freeman, a Tuscaloosa County native, is the daughter of Jane Freeman of Northport and Mr. and Mrs. Dwayne Freeman of Douglasville, Ga. She was salutatorian of her class at Northside High School and graduated cum laude from UA in 2002. Freeman also earned her master's degree from UA in health studies over the past year.

Freeman will enter medical school in Birmingham this month. She has received numerous honors from UA, including a leadership scholarship, being named to the President's and Dean's lists, historian of Alpha Epsilon Delta premed honorary and recording secretary of Phi Sigma Pi Honor Society. She was inducted into Golden Key, Phi Eta Sigma, Gamma Beta Phi and Alpha Lamba Delta honoraries. She participated in organic chemistry research on organometallics with Dr. Kevin Shaughnessy, UA assistant professor of chemistry, worked as resident assistant at Bryce Lawn Apartments, and was a pediatric patient care assistant at Capstone Medical Center. Additionally, she is a dispatcher for a local ambulance company.

The UA College of Community Health Sciences prepares medical students and medical residents for practice in rural areas. CCHS students take training rotations in rural medicine and community medicine with family physicians around the state.