Apr 26, 2017: PRACTICEMATCH OFFERS NEW PHYSICIAN SCHOLARSHIP

Medical Student Loan Debt Reaching Unprecedented Levels

St. Louis, MO, April 25, 2017– PracticeMatch, a leading national provider of healthcare staffing resources, such as job boards, career fairs, and candidate leads for employers, established the Empowered Physicians Scholarship award to assist future physicians in the United States with their medical school debt.

Physicians begin their careers with, on average, about $183,000 in medical school debt, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the average debt continues to climb. About one-third of medical school graduates have an additional $24,000 in undergraduate debt. Furthermore, 37 percent of medical school graduates have accumulated more than $200,000 in debt by the time they begin their medical careers.

"Medical school debt has become increasingly burdensome for new physicians in recent years; we’ve created this scholarship as a way to assist with this growing issue, one future physician at a time," states Mike York, chief operations officer of PracticeMatch.

"Since 1990, PracticeMatch has empowered physicians with career opportunities to help them meet their personal and professional goals. Today, we are excited to start this new tradition to further assist a future physician who exhibits exemplary dedication and involvement in his or her respective community."

The $2,000 scholarship will be awarded based on an essay contest which runs through December 1, 2017, with a winner to be announced on January 5, 2018. Entrants should write and submit a 500-word essay which conveys their career inspiration and passion for medicine, as well as how they plan to positively impact the lives of others and improve their respective communities as a physician.