Nearly $6.7 million of these 15 awards is part of the $200 million appropriated to HHSâ Health Resources and Services Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address the lack of healthcare professionals.
HRSAâs Preventive Medicine Residency Program provides support to plan and develop new residency programs; maintain, improve and expand existing programs; and provide financial support to residency trainees. Approximately 56 residents will receive financial support from these new funds. According to an estimate, more than 180 preventive-medicine residents will be trained in various public-health settings over the next three years.
âPreventive medicine physicians have training in both clinical medicine and public health, giving them a unique understanding of how to reduce the risks of disease and disability for the increasing number of people in need,â Sebelius said.
âThese residency programs are extremely important in our continuing efforts to seek ways to address public health needs and improve the overall health of the nation,â HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield said.
Preventive medicine includes three areas of specialty: general preventive medicine and public health, aerospace medicine and occupational medicine.