Medicine for the Economically Disadvantaged (MED)

Applications Accepted for Waitlist ONLY

Today, the cost of an undergraduate and medical, dental, optometry, or pharmacy school education has risen to historic heights. Young health professionals are finishing school sometimes owing as much as $500,000 in educational loans. They find that they cannot survive working in the lowest paying jobs in the medical profession – the community clinics in disadvantaged neighborhoods where the poor go for their health care.

LOAN REPAYMENT FOR PRACTITIONERS

MED  was created to help idealistic young doctors, dentists, optometrists, and pharmacists who devote their careers to serving the poor. The program provides educational loan repayment assistance grants to make it possible for health professionals to accept jobs in the community clinics in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and still be able to repay their educational loans. Uncommon Good partners with the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County to identify emerging young leaders in public health who need loan repayment assistance in order to be able to work in nonprofit clinics serving underprivileged communities.

MEDICAL CAREER PIPELINE

MED recipients, and doctors on Uncommon Good’s Board of Directors, serve as mentors to the students of Uncommon Good’s Connect to College/CAUSA program who are interested in careers in medicine. In addition, students at Keck Graduate Institute who are participating in the post-baccalaureate pre-med program, have formed KEY (KGI Empowering Youth) to serve as mentors for Uncommon Good students in the organization’s medical pipeline, engaging in activities that expose them to different careers in the health field. Uncommon Good guides its pipeline students through these and other activities through the completion of high school, their college years,  MCAT preparation, and applying for medical school.

Application for loan repayment assistance