The University of Oklahoma is getting a $16 million federal grant to address the healthcare shortage in underserved communities.

The grant will be used over the next four years to recruit, retain, and graduate medical students from tribal, rural, and medically underserved communities across Oklahoma.

The goal is for those students to go on to practice in their home communities.

The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Steven Crawford, Doctor of Family and Preventative Medicine at OU College of Medicine, hopes this grant will bridge the healthcare gap for underserved communities in Oklahoma.

“We hope students who come from those areas seek careers they may not have thought they were capable of seeking. And then go back and serve their communities and improve the health of those communities. Hopefully, on that same day, they would encourage other students to pursue careers that were again, something that wasn’t available," Dr. Crawford said.

Dr. Crawford encourages students who have an interest in the medical field to reach out to the college.

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