Apply for the ReConnect Fellowship Program
What will you do during your gap year?
The ReConnect Fellowship is designed for pre-health college graduates facing a gap-year while applying to medical school or physician assistant programs. The ReConnect Fellowship takes place in Roseburg, Oregon. Fellows are employed full-time as medical scribes and/or medical assistants in Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers or Rural Health Centers. These centers are family practice clinics who provide care for patients in a medically underserved area.
The ReConnect Fellowship is more than just working in a clinic. Fellows come together as a cohort of individuals who are all in similar places in their journey to becoming a healthcare provider. ReConnect Fellows gather outside of work hours for social dinners, professional learning opportunities, and to receive support in the medical or PA school application cycle.
Supports for ReConnect Fellows include:
○ Coaching and mentoring from program staff during your time as a fellow
○ Social gatherings and dinners with other fellows in the program
○ Professional Learning opportunities
○ Workshops on drafting and revising a Personal Narrative Statement for applications
○ Preparing for a medical school interview, Mock Interviews
○ Access to a network of former fellows who are in medical school or working as providers
○ Close interactions with providers and clinic staff who may be able to write letters of recommendation
Contact Us
Area Health Education Center of Southwest Oregon
A division of Aviva Health
150 NE Kenneth Ford Drive
Roseburg, OR 97470
Christin Rutledge
Director
(541) 672-9596 x 244
crutledge@aviva.health
Lacey Ferguson
ReConnect Gap-Year Fellowship Program Coordinator
(541) 912-5805
reconnect@aviva.health
Contact Information
If you have any questions about the ReConnect Gap-Year Fellowship or the application process, please reach out to our program staff.
Area Health Education Center of Southwest Oregon
Christin Rutledge
Director
541-672-9596 x244
crutledge@aviva.health
ReConnect Gap-Year Fellowship Program Consultant
Lacey Ferguson
ReConnect Gap-Year Fellowship Program Coordinator
Area Health Education Center of Southwest Oregon
(541) 912-5805
reconnect@aviva.health
Testimonials
“If you are looking for a tight-knit program that treats you as more than a nameless pre-med on an assembly line, provides advocacy for what you need to thrive during the application process, and acts as a collaborative family offering breaks from the stress in the form of food and fun activities….then I highly recommend this Reconnect Gap-Year Fellowship.”
-Andreea Gosman, 2019 Fellow, Resident at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University – Emergency Medicine
“My time spent as a ReConnect Fellow was incredibly helpful in the process of becoming a physician. It not only gave me the valuable medical experiences and exposure that medical school admission committees were looking for, but it also gave me an opportunity to practice the skills that I still use everyday. While nothing can prepare you to the fire hydrant of knowledge that comes with medical education, being a ReConnect fellow allowed me to practice “softer” skills that are not explicitly taught, such as talking with patients and families, considering how social determinants of health might be impacting a patient, documenting, and navigating within a federally qualified health center. While I am currently at an urban academic center, I still find myself often caring for patients from rural Oregon in general and from southern Oregon in particular. If I had not completed the ReConnect Fellow program, I believe that I would not have been as equipped to form close connections with these patients, nor would I have the insight to help set them up for success in their health when they return home.”
– Jaide Farr, 2016 Fellow, Resident at OHSU Pediatric Residency
| “My time as a ReConnect Fellow was integral to my path in becoming a medical provider. It provided me with clinical experience, mentorship, and also a very practical perspective on rural health care that I could then focus on in my applications to medical school. My participation in this program absolutely helped me to be accepted into the Rural-PRIME track at UC Davis SOM, which shaped my med school experience and path into residency. Overall, the ReConnect program formed the foundation of my clinical practice and mission to serve a rural area. |
-Natalie DeBell, 2018 Fellow, Psychiatric Resident at University of Virgina School of Medicine
